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REESE    LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNL 


Receired.- 

(7. 

Accession*  No..3?l£i?.4>O.          Shelf  No. 


WHITHER  shall  I  go  from  Thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  Presence  ? — If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  Thou  art 
there :  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold,  Thou  art  there. 
If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall  Thy  hand  lead  me, 
and  Thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me. 

Psalm  cxxxix,  v.  7 — 10. 


THE 


OMNIPRESENCE 


OF 


THE  DEITY. 


BY  ROBERT  MONTGOMERY. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
CAREY,  LEA  AND  CAREY— CHESNUT  STREET. 

SOLD  IN  NEW    YORK    BY    G.  AND  C.  CARVILL IN    BOSTON    BY 

MONROE    AND    FRANCIS. 

1828. 


THOMAS  KITE,  Printer. 


TO 

THE    RIGHT    REVEREND 

WILLIAM   HOWLEY,  D.D., 


LORD  BISHOP  OF   LONDON. 

THIS   POEM 

IS 

(BY  PERMISSION) 
MOST  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED, 

BY 
HIS  VERT  GRATEFUL  AND  OBEDIENT  SERVANT, 

THE  AUTHOR, 


CONTENTS. 


The  Omnipresence  of  the  Deity  -                         -     Page 

Part  I.  13 

Part  II.  -     43 

Part  III.        -             -             -  -             -             91 


Morning,  Noon,  and  Night  -     123 

Marius  131 

Stanzas  for  Music  -     135 

Starlight  on  Marathon    -  138 

Stanzas         -  -     143 

Caesar  on  the  Banks  of  the  Rubicon        -  145 

Stanzas  -     149 

The  Death  of  Corinne  153 

The  Pains  of  Genius  -     155 

The  Trance        -  157 

Vive  1'Empercur       -  -     161 

A  Daughter's  Apostrophe  to  a  Departed  Mother           166 

The  Dreadful  Prayer  -     169 

The  Crucifixion  172 

London  by  Midnight  -            -            -            -     182 


'Tis  midnight :  from  unnumbered  shadowy  spires 
Tunereal  wails  for  the  departing  day 
Arise,  as  from  a  host  of  yawning  tombs  ; 
Awhile  the  pealing  echoes  float  around, 
Then  faintly  ebb  upon  the  breezy  air, 
And  wind  away  into  the  starry  skies  I 

There  is  a  -voiceless  melanch'ly  that  wakes 
The  heart's  mysterious  chords,  until  they  stir 
Like  air,  by  music  charm'd,  when  on  the  verge 
Of  Time's  unfathom'd  gulf,  the  dying  hours 
Drop  into  dark  eternity ! — A  Day 
Is  dead !  and  with  it,  many  a  breathing  shape 
Of  life,  shall  breathe  no  more.     Many  an  eye 
That  smiled  upon  the  morn,  is  film'd  and  cold  ; 


Many  a  heart  that  leapt  with  living  joy 
Is  spiritless  and  still.     A  solemn  thought, 
Truth-born,  and  deep ;  but  life  o'ershadows  Death 
Beneath  her  brilliant  wings  ;  and  day  on  day, 
And  hour  on  hour  is  piled ;  yet  unappall'd 
We  glitter  on  life's  varied  road,  until  at  last 
The  death-knell  mutters  o'er  our  tombs,  and  some 
Communer  with  the  midnight,  when  he  hears 
The  dusky  steeples  moaning  to  the  clouds, 
Shall  close  his  eye,  and  say — "Another  day  is  dead  !"- 
And  thus  rolls  on  the  busy,  battling  world, 
Clogg'd  with  a  weighty  mass  of  joy  and  woe. 

'Tis  midnight ;  and  before  me  lies  outspread 
A  sleeping  city,  with  its  towers  and  domes 
All  shapeless  and  sublime,  and  darkly  girt 
With  funeral  air,  save  where  the  casement  sheds 
Its  lambent  smile  around  :     And  here,  alone, 


XI 

With  few  to  bless,  and  bless'd  by  lew,  1  sit 

And  muse,  until  Imagination  grasp 

The  universe  !  and  trace  in  every  isle 

That  gems  the  sea,  and  every  land  that  blooms 

Beneath  the  sun,  the  sleepless  power  of  God, 

That  with  a  veil  of  love  invests  the  world. 

But  see!  the  Moon  unrobes,  and  from  her  face 
Beauty  goes  forth,  and  fills  the  heavens  with  light 
Till  the  vast  concave  blossometh  with  stars ! 
At  such  an  hour,  while  weary  Nature  sleeps, 
And  Silence  walks  the  world, — pervading  God! 
Awe-smote,  before  thy  viewless  throne  I  lay 
A  sacrifice  of  feelings,  flash  M  from  Thee 
Into  immortal  man! — But  who  shall  paint, 
Or  mete  witli  words,  the  majesty  of  God  ? 
Ineffable,  sublime,  supreme — -beyond 
The  lip  of  cherubim  to  tell — Alone  ! — 


Xll 

Glimps'd  in  the  lightning  —  in  the  thunder  heard 
Creation  in  Thy  grasp,  —  Thy  throne  in  heaven 
Eternity  unrolPd  beneath  thine  eye!  — 
Still  on  the  earth  Thy  shadow's  seen  ;  and  oh  ! 
Among  the  meads,  or  by  the  mazy  rills, 
Or  on  the  mountains  mantled  by  thy  smile, 
Or  by  the  wave-beat  shore,  —  where'er  I  roam 
In  sweet  companionship  with  Thought,  I  feel 
Thee  by  ;  —  an  unseen  Presence  ruling  All. 

If  aught,  then,  of  the  mind's  devotion  warm 
The  poet's  page  ;  if  feelings  from  the  soul 
Gush  into  glowing  verse,  from  Thee  derived, 
Receive  it,  God  !  and  may  it  glide  around 
The  world,  and  win  to  heaven  harmonious 


Bath,  March  2,  182C. 


UNIVERSITY 


THE 

OMNIPRESENCE 

OF 

THE  DEITY. 


ANALYSTS  OF  PART  I. 


THE  Poem  opens  with  an  apostrophe  to  the  DEITY — He 
was,  ere  Time  began — Vision  of  the  Creation — We  cannot 
escape  the  Omnipresent  God — He  pervades  all  things — 
Allusion  to  his  appearance  on  Mount  Sinai — The  Red  Sea 
— Nature  attests  the  presence  of  her  Architect — The  im- 
possibility of  perfectly  tracing  the  Deity's  influence ;  we 
can  only  select  those  scenes  which  impressively  demon- 
strate it — The  thunder — The  ocean-tempest — The  Presence 
of  the  Deity  felt  in  the  repose  of  Nature — The  calm  which 
succeeds  a  storm — Aspirations  awakened  by  a  view  of  the 
setting  sun. 

The  hand  of  God  b  next  traced  in  a  rapid  view  of  the 
Seasons  : — Spring — Mountains — Sacred  feelings  kindled  by 
the  sight  of  an  august  ruin — The  Convalescent — The  Hea- 
vens— A  moonlight  Walk — The  soul  conscious  of  its  celes- 
tial origin — Every  clime  an  object  of  the  Deity's  care — 
Condensed  view  of  His  Providence — Not  only  nature,  but 
human  life,  in  all  its  diversified  forms,  regulated  by  Him. 


Uim 


PART  1. 


THOU  UNCREATE,  UNSEEN,  and  UNDEFINED, 
Source  of  all  life,  and  fountain  of  the  mind ; 
Pervading  SPIRIT,  whom  no  eye  can  trace, 
Fejt  through  all  time,  and  working  in  all  space, 
Imagination  cannot  paint  that  spot, 
Around,  above,  beneath,  where  thou  art  not ! 


Before  the  glad  stars  hymn'd  to  new-born  Earth, 
Or  young  Creation  re  veil' d  in  its  birth, 

B2 


18  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Thy  Spirit  moved  upon  the  pregnant  deep, 
Unchain'd  the  waveless  waters  from  their  sleep, 
Bade  Time's  majestic  wings  to  be  unfurPd, 
And  out  of  Darkness  drew  the  breathing  World! 

Primeval  Power!  before  Thy  thunder  rang, 
And  Nature  from  Eternity  outsprang! — 
Ere  matter  form'd  at  thy  creative  tone, 
Thou  wert ;  Almighty,  Endless,  and  alone ; 
In  thine  own  essence,  all  that  was  to  be, — 
Sublime,  unfathomable  Deity ; 
Thou  said'st — and  lo !  a  Universe  was  born, 
And  light  flash'd  from  thee  for  her  birth-day  morn  ! 

The  Earth  urishrouded  all  her  beauty  now ; 
The  mountain  monarch  bared  his  awful  brow, 
Flowers,  fruits,  and  trees  felt  instantaneous  life ; 
But,  hark  !    Creation  trembles  with  the  strife  < 


I.]  OF    THE    DEITT.  19 

Of  roaring  waves  in  wild  commotion  hmTd. — 
'Tia  Ocean  winding  round  the  rocking  world! 

And  next,  triumphant  o'er  the  green-clad  Earth, 
The  universal  Sun  burst  into  birth, 
And  dash'd  from  off  his  altitude  sublime 
The  first  dread  ray  that  mark'd  commencing  Time ! 
Last  came  the  moon  upon  the  wings  of  light, 
And  sat  in  glory  on  the  throne  of  Night, 
While,  fierce  and  fresh,  a  radient  host  of  stars 
Wheel'd  round  the  heavens  upon  their  burning  cars ! 

But  all  was  dismal  as  a  world  of  dead, 
Till  the  great  Deep  her  living  swarms  outspread : 
Forth  from  her  teeming  bosom,  sudden  came 
Immingled  monsters, — mighty,  without  name  ; 
Then  plumy  tribes  wing'd  into  being  there, 
And  play'd  their  gleamy  pinions  on  the  air, 


I 


20  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Till  thick  as  dews  upon  a  twilight  green, 
Earth's  living  creatures  rose  upon  the  scene ! 

Creation's  master-piece !  a  breath  of  God, 
Ray  of  His  glory,  quickened  at  His  nod, 
Immortal  Man  came  next,  divinely  grand, 
Glorious  and  perfect  from  his  Maker's  hand ; 
Last,  softly  beautiful  as  music's  close, 
Angelic  Woman  into  being  rose. 

And  now,  the  gorgeous  Universe  was  rife, 
Full,  fair,  and  glowing  with  created  life  ; 
And  when  the  Eternal,  from  his  starry  height, 
Beheld  the  young  world  basking  in  his  light, 
And  breathing  incense  of  deep  gratitude, 
He  bless' d  it, — for  his  mercy  made  it  good ! 


I.]  OF    THE    DEITY,  21 

And  thus,  THOU  wert,  and  art,  the  Fountain  Soul, 
And  countless  worlds  around  Thee  live  and  roll ; 
In  sun  and  shade,  in  ocean  and  in  air, 
Diffused,  yet  undiminished — everywhere  : 
All  life  and  motion  from  Thy  source  began, 
From  worlds  to  atoms,  angels  down  to  man. 

Lord  of  all  being  !  where  can  Fancy  fly, 
To  what  far  realms,  unmeasured  by  Thine  eye  ? 
Where  can  we  hide  beneath  Thy  blazing  sun, 
Where  dwell'st  Tiiounot,  the  boundless,  viewless  One  ? 
Shall  Guilt  couch  down  within  the  cavern's  gloom, 
And  quivering,  groaning,  meditate  her  doom  ? 
Or  scale  the  mountains,  where  the  whirlwinds  rest, 
And  in  the  night-blast  cool  her  fiery  breast  ? 
In  vain,  in  vain,  may  guilt-stung  Fancy  fly, 
Creation's  mirror  M  on  Thy  sleepless  eye  ; 


22  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Within  the  cavern-gloom,  Thine  eye  can  see, 
The  sky-clad  mountains  lift  their  heads  to  Thee  ! 
Thy  Spirit  rides  upon  the  thunder-storms, 
Dark'ning  the  skies  into  terrific  forms  ! 
Beams  in  the  lightning,  rocks  upon  the  seas, 
Roars  in  the  blast,  and  whispers  in  the  breeze ; 
In  calm  and  storm,  in  Heaven  and  Earth  Thou  art, 
Trace  but  Thy  works — they  bring  Thee  to  the  heart ! 

The  fulness  of  Thy  Presence  who  can  see  ? 
Man  cannot  live,  great  God  !  and  look  on  Thee  ; 
Around  thy  form  eternal  lightnings  glow, — 
Thy  voice  appals  the  shuddering  world  below. 

Oh  !  Egypt  felt  Thee  when,  by  signs  unscared, 
To  mock  Thy  might,  the  rebel  monarch  dared ; 
Thou  look'dst — and  Ocean  sever'd  at  the  glance  ! 
Undaunted,  still  the  charioteers  advance  ; 


I.]  OF    THE    DEIT^4  23 

Thou  look'dst  again— she  clash'd  her  howling  waves, 
And  gorg'd  the  tyrants  in  unfathom'd  graves ! 

On  Sinai's  mountain,  when  thy  glory  came 
In  rolls  of  thunder,  and  in  clouds  of  flame ; 
There,  while  volcanic  smoke  Thy  throne  o'ercast, 
And  the  mount  shrunk  beneath  the  trumpet-blast, 
How  did  Thy  Presence  smite  all  Israel's  eye ! 
How  dreadful  were  the  gleams  of  Deity ! 

There  is  a  voiceless  eloquence  on  Earth, 
Telling  of  Him  who  gave  her  wonders  birth  ; 
And  long  may  I  remain  the  adoring  child 
Of  nature's  majesty,  sublime  or  wild ; 
Hill,  flood,  and  forest,  mountain,  rock,  and  sea, 
All  take  their  terrors  and  their  charms  from  Thee, 
From  Thee,  whose  hidden  but  supreme  control 
Moves  through  the  world,  a  universal  soul. 


24  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

But  who  can  trace  Thine  unrestricted  course, 
Though  Fancy  followed  with  immortal  force  ? 
There's  not  a  blossom  fondled  by  the  breeze, 
There's  not  a  fruit  that  beautifies  the  trees, 
There's  not  a  particle  in  sea  or  air, 
But  nature  owns  Thy  plastic  influence  there  I 
With  fearful  gaze,  still  be  it  mine  to  see 
How  all  is  filPd  and  vivified  by  Thee  ; 
Upon  Thy  mirror,  earth's  majestic  view, 
To  paint  Thy  presence,  and  to  feel  it  too. 

Ye  giant  winds !  that  from  your  gloomy  sleep 
Rise  in  your  wrath,  and  revel  on  the  deep; 
Lightnings !  that  are  the  mystic  gleams  of  God, 
That  glanc'd  when  on  the  sacred  mount  he  trod ; 
And  ye,  ye  thunders !  that  begird  His  form, 
Pealing  your  loud  hosaunahs  o'er  the  storm  i 


!•]  OF    THE    DEITY.  25 

Around  me  rally  in  your  mingled  might, 
And  strike  my  being  with  a  dread  delight ; 
Sublimely  musing,  let  me  pause  and  see, 
And  pour  my  awe-struck  soul,  O  God !  to  Thee. 

A  thunder-storm  ! — the  eloquence  of  heaven, 
When  every  cloud  is  from  its  slumber  riven, 
Who  hath  not  paused  beneath  its  hollow  groan, 
And  felt  Omnipotence  around  him  thrown  ? 
With  what  a  gloom  the  ush'ring  scene  appears ! 
The  leaves  all  fluttering  with  instinctive  fears, 
The  waters  curling  with  a  fellow  dread, 
A  breezeless  fervour  round  creation  spread, 
And,  last,  the  heavy  rain's  reluctant  shower, 
With  big  drops  patt'ring  on  the  tree  and  bower, 
While  wizard  shapes  the  bowing  sky  deform,— 
All  mark  the  coming  of  the  thunder-storm ! 


26  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Oh !  now  to  be  alone,  on  some  grand  height, 
Where  heaven's  hlack  curtains  shadow  all  the  sight, 
And  watch  the  swollen  clouds  their  bosom  clash, 
While  fleet  and  far  the  living  lightnings  flash,— 
To  mark  the  caverns  of  the  sky  disclose 
The  furnace  flames  that  in  their  wombs  repose, 
And  see  the  flery  arrows  fall  and  rise, 
In  dizzy  chase  along  the  rattling  skies, — 
How  stirs  the  spirit  while  the  echoes  roll, 
And  God,  in  thunder,  rocks  from  pole  to  pole ! 

And  Thou,  vast  Ocean !  on  whose  awful  face 
Time's  iron  feet  can  print  no  ruin-trace, 
By  breezes  lull'd,  or  by  the  storm-blasts  driv'n, 
Thy  majesty  uplifts  the  mind  to  heaven. 

Tremendous  art  thou !    in  thy  tempest-ire, 
When  the  mad  surges  to  the  clouds  respire^ 


!•]  OF    THE    DEITY.  27 

And,  like  new  Apennines  from  out  the  sea, 
Thy  waves  march  on  in  mountain  majesty ! 
Oh !  never  did  the  dark-souPd  ATHEIST  stand, 
And  watch  the  breakers  boiling  on  the  strand, 
And  while  Creation  stagger 'd  at  his  nod, 
Mock  the  dread  presence  of  the  mighty  God  ! 
We  hear  Him  in  the  wind-heav'd  ocean's  roar, 
Hurling  her  billowy  crags  upon  the  shore ; 
We  hear  Him  in  the  riot  of  the  blast, 
And  shake,  while  rush  the  raving  whirlwinds  past ! 

But  not  alone,  when  waves  and  whirlwinds  rise, 
And  wing  their  voices  through  the  startled  skies ; 
Not  in  the  storm,  the  thunder,  or  the  sea, 
Alone,  we  feel  thy  dread  UBIQUITY  : 
In  calmer  scenes,  and  the  unruffled  hour, 
Our  stilPd  hearts  own  Thine  omnipresent  power. 


28  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

List !  now  the  cradled  winds  have  hush'd  their  roar, 
And  infant  waves  curl  pouting  to  the  shore, 
While  Nature  seems  to  wake  up  fresh  and  clear 
As  Hope  emerging  from  the  gloom  of  fear, — 
And  the  bright  dew-bead  on  the  bramble  lies, 
Like  liquid  rapture  upon  beauty's  eyes, — 
How  heavenly  'tis  to  take  the  pensive  range, 
And  mark  'tween  storm  and  calm  the  lovely  change  ! 

First  comes  the  Sun,  unveiling  half  his  face, 
Like  a  coy  virgin,  with  reluctant  grace, 
While  dark  clouds,  skirted  with  his  slanting  ray 
Sink,  one  by  one,  in  azure  depths  away, 
Till  pearly  shapes,  like  molten  billows,  lie, 
Along  the  tinted  bosom  of  the  sky : 
Next,  breezes  murmur  with  harmonious  charm, 
Panting  and  wild,  as  children  of  the  storm ; 


I.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  29 

Now  sipping  flowers,  now  making  blossoms  shake, 

Or  weaving  ripples  on  the  grass-green  lake  ; 

And  thus  the  Tempest  dies  ;  and  bright,  and  still, 

The  rainbow  drops  upon  the  distant  hill  ; 

And  now  while  bloom  and  breeze  their  charms  unite, 

And  all  is  glowing  with  a  rich  delight, 

=God !  who  can  tread  upon  the  breathing  ground, 

Nor  feel  Thee  present,  where  Thy  smiles  abound ! 

When  Day  hath  roll'd  into  his  rosy  bower, 
And  Twilight  comes — the  Poet's  pensive  hour ; 
When  dream-like  murmurs  from  the  mazy  wind 
Romantic  glide  into  his  gentle  mind ; 
Then  Nature's  beauty,  cloth'd  with  dewy  light, 
Melts  on  the  heart,  like  music  through  the  Night. 

And,  not  in  vain,  voluptuous  Eventide, 
Thy  dappled  clouds  along  th'  horizon  glide, 


30  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

For,  oh !  while  heaven  and  earth  grow  dumb  with  bliss, 
In  homage  to  an  hour  divine  as  this, 
How  sweet,  upon  yon  mountain's  azure  brow, 
While  ruddy  sun-beams  gild  the  crags  below, 
To  stand,  and  mark,  with  meditative  view, 
Where  the  far  ocean  faints  in  hazy  blue, 
While  on  the  bosom  of  the  midway  deep 
The  emerald  waves  in  flashing  dimples  leap  ; 
Here,  as  we  view  the  burning  god  of  time, 
Wrapp'd  in  a  shroud  of  glory,  sink  sublime, 
Thoughts  of  immortal  beauty  spring  to  birth, 
And  waft  the  soul  beyond  the  dreams  of  earth. 

And  who  hath  gazed  upon  the  bright- wing'd  Morn, 
Breezy  and  fresh,  from  out  the  ocean  born  ; 
Her  rich-wove  cloud-wreaths,  and  the  rainbow  hues 
From  heaven  reflected  on  Creation's  views  ; 


I.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  31 

Or  mark'd  the  wonders  of  a  day  depart, 
Nor  felt  a  heaven-caught  influence  at  his  heart  ? 
Through  all  the  seasons'  varying  course  of  love, 
Who  hath  not  traced  the  Spirit  from  above  ? 
The  howl  of  winter  in  the  leafless  wood, 
The  sleepy  snow-storm,  and  the  whelming  flood, 
Or  Summer's  flush,  or  Autumn,  robed  in  grey, 
Whirling  the  red  leaves  round  her  bleak- worn  way, 
All  tell  one  tale  of  Heaven.    But  thou,  young  Spring, 
Glad  as  the  wild  bee  on  his  glossy  wing, 
Bedeck'dwith  bloom,  and  breathing  life  around. 
Within  thy  bosom,  charms  supreme  abound. 

The  mercy-fountains  of  Divinity 
Now  stream  through  all,  with  vigour  full  and  free  ; 
As  if  unloosen'd  from  their  living  source, 
To  carry  with  them  Spring's  creative  force ! 


32  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

The  sky  is  garlanded  with  waves  of  blue, 
Like  ocean  dawning  on  the  distant  view  ; 
The  sun  lies  mirror'd  on  the  radiant  streams, 
The  sea-waves  gambol  in  his  noon-tide  beams, 
The  boughs  hang  glitt'ring  in  their  locks  of  green, 
The  meadow-minstrels  carol  to  the  scene  ; — 
While  sea,  and  sky,  and  air,  and  beauteous  Earth 
With  her  rich  promise  budding  into  birth, 
Seem,  like  a  heart  o'erfilPd  with  sacred  love, 
Glowing  with  gratitude  to  Him  above ! 

Terrific  giants  that  o'erlook  the  sea  1 
Enormous  masses  of  sublimity  ! 
Ye  mountain-piles  !  Earth's  monuments  to  Heaven — 
Around  whose  brows  the  giddy  storms  are  driven, 
E'er  since  your  daring  heads  have  pierced  the  sky, 
Almighty  Majesty  has  linger1  d  by  ; 


!•]  OF    THE    DEITY.  33 

Whether  in  climes  where  'bove  the  ice-chain'd  deep 
Ye  rise  in  piles  magnificently  steep  ; 
Or  where  in  living  bloom  your  bosoms  swell, 
And  fierce  and  far  the  flashing  torrents  yell, — 
Where  snow-drifts  whiten,  or  where  sun-beams  warm, 
Your  brows  are  girdled  with  a  dreadful  charm. 

When  drops  the  sun  in  yonder  western  deep, 
The  waves  unruffled,  and  the  winds  asleep ; 
And  isles  of  beauty  float  the  brilliant  sky, 
While  Fancy  muses  with  enamour'd  eye  ; 
Then  comes  the  hour  to  commune  with  the  sight, 
Where  the  wild  mountain  rears  its  massy  height : 
There,  as  we  gaze,  gigantic  thoughts  begin 
To  stir  the  immortal  spark  that  burns  within  ; 
Till  wonder  starts  with  a  be  wild' ring  fear, 
As  if  the  shadow  of  a  God  were  near  \ 


34  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

And  where,  beneath  the  wasting  wings  of  Time, 
Towers  and  temples  sink  in  age  sublime  ; 
Where  by  the  grey-worn  battlements  are  heard 
The  dismal  dirges  of  the  midnight  bird  ; 
While  low  winds  mutter  through  the  roofless  halls, 
And  ivy-boughs  bend  weeping  o'er  the  walls  ; 
Imagination  loves  to  stand  and  dream, 
And  mark  the  ruin  in  the  moonlight  gleam, 
Till  summon' d  Ages  startle  from  their  sleep, 
And  musing  Mem'ry  turns  aside  to  weep. 
Or  view,  when  Sunset  drinks  the  forest  breeze, 
Where  some  grey  abbey  glimmers  through  the  trees, 
And  on  the  turrets  Evening's  pallid  rays 
Gleam  like  the  glory  of  departed  days ! 
How  soon  the  cloister 'd  stillness  of  the  spot1 
Brings  heaven  around  us,  till  the  world's  forgot ; 
While  Retrospection  draws  the  moral  sigh, 
And  dreams  embodied  flit  before  her  eye  1 


I-J  OF    THE    DEITY.  35 

Great  Architect  of  worlds  !  whose  wond'rous  power 
Presided  o'er  Creation's  natal  hour, 
Stamp'd  man  Thy  miniature,  and  bade  him  run 
A  race  of  glory,  till  his  goal  be  won  ; 
When  wan  Disease  exhales  her  with'ring  breath, 
And  dims  his  beauty  with  the  damp  of  death  ; 
At  some  still  hour  the  holy  sigh  will  swell, 
The  gushing  tear  of  gratitude  will  tell 
That  Thou  art  by,  to  temper  and  to  tame 
The  trembling  anguish  of  the  fever'd  frame. 

But  oh !  when  heal'd  by  love  and  heaven,  we  rise, 
With  radiant  cheek,  and  re-illumin'd  eyes, 
Bright  as  a  new-born  sun,  all  nature  beams, 
And  through  the  spirit  darts  immortal  dreams ! 
Now  for  the  breezy  hills,  and  blooming  plains, 
And  pensive  ramble  when  the  noon-tide  wanes , 


36  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Now  for  the  walk  beside  some  haunted  wood, 
And  dreamy  music  of  the  distant  flood  ; 
While  far  and  wide,  the  wand'ring  eye  surveys, 
And  the  heart  leaps  to  pour  away  its  praise ! 

Thus  Adam  felt,  when,  like  a  morning  ray 
Shot  from  the  shrine  of  light,  at  dawning  day, 
He  sprang  in  beauty  on  the  new-made  ground, 
And  hail'd  the  virgin  sky  that  glow'd  around, 
And  wafted  up  to  heaven  on  every  wind 
The  untaught  worship  of  his  wond'ring  mind. 

Now,  turn  from  earth,  to  yonder  glorious  sky — 
Th'  imagin'd  dwelling-place  of  Deity  ! 
Ye  quenchless  stars  !  so  eloquently  bright, 
Untroubled  sentries  of  the  shadowy  night, 
While  half  the  world  is  lapp'd  in  downy  dreams, 
And  round  the  lattice  creep  your  midnight  beams, 


I.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  37 

How  sweet  to  gaze  upon  your  placid  eyes, 
In  lambent  beauty  looking  from  the  skies ! 

And  when,  oblivious  of  the  world,  we  stray 
At  dead  of  night  along  some  noiseless  way, 
How  the  heart  mingles  with  the  moon-lit  hour, 
As  if  the  starry  heavens  suffused  a  power ! 
See  !  not  a  cloud  careers  yon  pensile  sweep, 
A  waveless  sea  of  azure,  still  as  sleep  ; 
Full  in  her  dreamy  light,  the  Moon  presides, 
Shrin'd  in  a  halo,  mellowing  as  she  rides  ; 
And  far  around,  the  forest  and  the  stream 
Bathe  in  the  beauty  of  her  emerald  beam  : 
The  lulPd  winds,  too,  are  sleeping  in  their  caves, 
No  stormy  murmurs  roll  upon  the  waves  ; 
Nature  is  hush'd,  as  if  her  works  adored, 
StuTd  by  the  presence  of  her  living  Lord  I 


38  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

And  now,  while  through  the  ocean-mantling  haze 
A  dizzy  chain  of  yellow  lustre  plays, 
And  moonlight  loveliness  hath  veil'd  the  land, 
Go,  stranger,  muse  thou  by  the  wave-worn  strand  : 
Cent'ries  have  glided  o'er  the  balanc'd  earth, 
Myriads  have  bless'd,  and  myriads  cursed  their  birth  ; 
Still,  yon  sky-beacons  keep  a  dimless  glare, 
Unsullied  as  the  God  who  thron'd  them  there ! 
Though   swelling   earthquakes  heave  the  astounded 

world, 

And  king  and  kingdom  from  their  pride  are  hurPd, 
Sublimely  calm,  they  run  their  bright  career, 
Unheedful  of  the  storms  and  changes  here. 
We  want  no  hymn  to  hear,  or  pomp  to  see, 
For  all  around  is  deep  divinity ! 
The  soul  aspiring  pants  its  source  to  mount, 
As  streams  meander  level  with  their  fount ; 


I-]  OF    THE    DEITY.  39 

While  other  years  unroll  their  cloudy  tide, 
And  with  them  all  the  bliss  they  once  supplied ! 
Oh  !  if  belov'd  ones,  from  their  viewless  sphere, 
May  witness  warm  Affection's  faithful  tear, 
At  this  deep  hour,  they  hear  the  mourner's  sigh, 
And  waft  a  blessing  from  their  homes  on  high  ! 

Stupendous  God !  how  shrinks  our  bounded  sense 
To  track  the  triumphs  of  Omnipotence  ; 
From  the  dread  mountain,  to  the  deepest  den, 
From  the  mean  insects,  to  immortal  men  ; 
Bless'd  with  Thy  brightest  smile,  dare  we  confine 
Paternal  Providence,  supreme  as  thine  ? 
Far  as  the  fancy  flies,  or  life-stream  flows, 
From  Georgia's  deserts  to  the  Greenland  snows, 
Where  space  exists,  Thine  eyes  of  mercy  see, — 
Creation  lives,  and  moves,  and  breathes  in  Thee  t 


40  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Yes !  pause  and  think,  within  one  fleeting  hour, 
How  vast  a  universe  obeys  Thy  power , 
Unseen,  but  felt,  Thine  interfused  control 
Works  in  each  atom,  and  pervades  the  whole ; 
Expands  the  blossom,  and  erects  the  tree,2 
Conducts  each  vapour,  and  commands  each  sea, 
Beams  in  each  ray,  bids  whirlwinds  be  unfurl'd, 
Unrols  the  thunder,  and  upheaves  a  world ! 

Yet  not  alone  created  realms  engage 
Thy  faultless  wisdom,  grand,  primeval  Sage ! 
For  all  the  thronging  woes  to  life  allied 
Thy  mercy  tempers,  and  Thy  cares  provide. 

E'en  now,  while  voiceless  Midnight  walks  the  land, 
And  spreads  the  wings  of  Darkness  with  her  wand, 
What  scenes  are  witnessed  by  thy  watchful  eye ! 
What  millions  waft  to  Thee  the  prayer  and  sigh ! 


I.  J  OF   THE    DEITY.  41 

Some  gaily  vanish  to  an  unfear'd  grave, 
Fleet  as  the  sun-flash  o'er  a  summer  wave  ; 
Some  wear  out  life  in  smiles,  and  some  in  tears, 
Some  dare  with  hope,  while  others  droop  with  fears; 
The  vagrant's  roaming  in  his  tatter'd  vest, 
The  babe  is  sleeping  on  its  mother's  breast ; 
The  captive  mutt'ring  o'er  his  rust- worn  chain, 
The  widow  weeping  for  her  lord  again, 
While  many  a  mourner  shuts  his  languid  eye, 
To  dream  of  heaven,  and  view  it  ere  he  die . 
And  yet  no  sigh  can  swell,  no  tear-drop  fall, 
But  thou  wilt  see,  and  guide,  and  solace  all ! 


END  OF  FART  I. 


D  2 


PART  II. 


ANALYSIS  OF  PART  II. 


THE  second  part  of  the  Poem  is  devoted  to  a  consideration 
of  the  Presence  of  the  Deity,  as  influencing  Human  Life — 
In  our  journey  through  the  world,  we  cannot  but  admit  an 
overruling  Power — The  mental  independence  of  him  who 
relies  on  it — No  lot  too  miserable  to  engage  the  paternal 
care  of  the  Deity — Consolation  derived  from  this  certainty 
in  scenes  of  woe — Pictures  of  a  street-wanderer  and  an  ex- 
iled captive — The  hopes  imparted  to  the  soldier,  by  his 
confidence  in  the  Presence  of  God — Battle-plain  by  moon- 
light described — God's  viewless  Spirit  attendant — The 
sailor's  farewell  on  the  sea-shore — His  mistress's  prayer  to 
Heaven — Storm  and  wreck  described — The  mariner's  in- 
tense consciousness  of  Preserving  Providence. 

As  misfortune  is  observed  by  God,  so,  in  like  manner, 
the  crimes  of  the  wicked  cannot  escape  Him — Picture  of  a 
murderer — Darkness  :  its  varied  influence  depicted — The 


46  ANALYSIS. 

misery  of  remorse  without  His  attending  mercy — Penitence 
— The  young  convict. 

The  Sabbath — Feelings  excited  by  the  tones  of  an  organ 
swelling  through  a  cathedral — The  village  christening  de- 
scribed— Rapid  survey  of  the  common  lot. 

As  God  has  been  defined  4Love,'  we  may  be  assured  that 
he  eminently  favours  virtuous  affection — The  marriage- 
scene — Divine  raptures  arising  from  the  retrospections  of 
the  virtuous — Picture  of  a  grandsire,  sitting  by  his  winter 
fire,  and  retracing  the  scenes  of  his  life — Friendship. 

Death — Apostrophe — Picture  of  a  dying  old  man,  attend- 
ed by  his  daughter — The  blank  misery  that  waits  the  return 
from  the  funeral — The  Almighty  present,  to  relieve. 


PART   II. 


ALONG  the  barren  world  as  doom'd  we  roam 

By  devious  paths  to  one  perennial  home, 

In  tears  or  smiles,  we  own  th'  overruling  hand 

That  beckons  on  to  that  celestial  land, 

Where,  liarbour'd  all,  life's  billows  sink  away, 

And  the  bright  spirits  bask  in  heaven's  immortal  ray. 

And  happy  thou  !  through  all  the  change  of  time, 
Whom  sorrow  cannot  burden  with  a  crime  ; 


48  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Whose  joyless  heart  and  never-lighten'd  care 
Can  proudly  scorn  the  refuge  of  despair  ; 
Like  ocean's  wand'rer  guided  by  his  star, 
Thy  heaven-taught  spirit  looks  to  him  afar. 

Say,  ye  whose  hearts  unclouded  can  enjoy 
The  bliss  of  life  without  the  world's  alloy  ; 
What  can  illume  their  melancholy  way, 
Where  want  begins,  and  misery  crowns  the  day  ? 
When  bowed  by  woe,  and  bleach' d  by  with' ring  age, 
Alone  the  mourner  roams  the  world's  wide  stage  ; 
His  fortune  wreck'd,  his  friends  beneath  the  sod, 
Where  shall  he  fly,  but  to  the  arms  of  God  ? 
And  blest  yon  viewless  Spirit  thron'd  on  high ! 
No  heart's  too  wretched  to  engage  his  eye  ; 
No  lot  too  lowly  to  deserve  his  love, 
And  snatch  a  smile  of  mercy  from  above  ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  49 

He  gazes  on  the  sleepless  couch  of  woe, 
And  bids  the  dying  light  of  hope  to  glow, 
Unarms  the  peril,  heals  the  wounded  mind, 
And  wins  each  feeling  home  to  fate  resigned. 

At  wintry  eve,  when  warring  night-winds  blow, 
Pierce  his  cold  cheek,  and  drift  his  locks  of  snow, 
As  oil  the  vagrant  shivers  through  the  street, 
No  voice  to  pity,  and  no  hand  to  greet, 
With  many  a  pause  he  marks  that  window-pane, 
Whose  cheering  blaze  recalls  his  home  again  ; 
The  friend  and  face,  the  music  and  the  mirth, 
And  social  magic  of  his  evening  hearth, 
Awaked  by  memory,  warm  his  widow'd  heart. 
Till  real  woes  in  fancied  bliss  depart ; 
And  one  by  one,  as  happier  days  appear, 
To  each  he  pays  the  homage  of  a  tear  ; 


50  THE    OMNIPRESENCE 

Though  homeless,  still  he  loves  home's  joyous  glare, 
Looks  up  to  heaven,  and  feels  his  home  is. there. 

Within  a  dungeon,  mildew  ?d  by  the  night, 
Earr'd  from  salubrious  air  and  blessed  light, 
Lo!  the  pale  captive  pines  in  hostile  lands, 
Chain'd  to  his  doom  by  adamantine  bands. 
Oh !  how  he  pants  to  face  the  fresh-wing'd  breeze, 
And  list  the  voices  of  the  summer  trees  ; 
To  breathe,  and  live,  and  move,  and  be  as  free 
As  nature  is,  and  man  was  made  to  be ! 
And  when  at  night,  upon  his  flinty  bed, 
Silent  and  sad,  he  lays  his  grief-worn  head, 
There  as  the  durigeon-bell,  with  dismal  sound, 
Tolls  midnight  through  the  sleeping  air  around, 
Remembrance  wafts  him  to  congenial  climes, 
And  frames  a  fairy  world  of  happier  times. 


II-]  OF    THE     DEITY.  51 

The  woodland  haunts  around  his  native  scene, 

The  village  dance  upon  the  festive  green, 

His  sloping  garden  where  he  loved  to  ply, 

And  smil'd  as  peeping  flower  buds  hail'd  his  eye, 

His  beauteous  partner,  and  her  blue-ey'd  boy, 

Who  prattled,  play'd  and  fed  his  soul  with  joy, — 

By  thought  created,  crowd  around  his  heart, 

And  force  the  pangs  of  forid  regret  to  start ; 

Each  dear  delusion  claims  a  parent  sigh, 

Each  dream  of  happiness  bedims  his  eye  ; 

Till  warm'd  by  Heaven,  his  home- wed  bosom  glows 

With  hopes  that  triumph  o'er  remember'd  woes ; 

And  far  away  the  chainless  spirit  flies, 

To  vision'd  realms  of  rest  beyond  the  skies  ! 

Spirit  of  Light  and  Life  !   when  Bailie  rears 
Her  fiery  brow  amid  terrific  spears  ; 


52  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

When  red-mouth' d  cannons  to  the  clouds  uproar, 

And  gasping  hosts  sleep  shrouded  in  their  gore, 

E'en  then,  th'  intrepid  heart  that  nobly  glows 

To  face  the  fury  of  invading  foes, 

May  look  to  Thee  for  mercy  and  for  power, 

To  brave  the  peril  of  the  carnage  hour  ; 

Or,  doom'd  to  die  amid  the  dreadful  din, 

While  Battle  storms  without,  may  find  a  peace  within. 

List, !  war-peals  thunder  on  the  battle-field ; 
And  many  a  hand  grasps  firm  the  glitt'ring  shield, 
As  on,  with  helm  and  plume,  the  warriors  come, 
Arid  the  glad  hills  repeat  the  stormy  drum  ! 
And  now  are  seen  the  youthful  and  the  grey, 
With  bosoms  burning  to  partake  the  fray  : 
The  first,  with  hearts  that  consecrate  the  deed, 
All  eager  rush  to  vanquish  or  to  bleed  ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  53 

Like  young  waves  racing  in  the  morning  sun, 

That  rear  and  leap  with  reckless  fury  on ! 

But,  mark  yon  war-worn  man,  who  looks  on  high, 

With  musing  valour  mirror' d  in  his  eye  ; 

Not  all  the  bloody  revels  of  the  day 

Can  fright  the  vision  of  his  home  away  ; 

The  home  of  love,  and  its  harmonious  smiles, 

His  wife's  endearment,  and  his  baby's  wiles  ; 

Fights  he  less  brave  through  recollected  bliss, 

With  step  retreating,  or  with  sword  remiss  ? 

Ah  no !  remember'd  home  's  the  warrior's  charm, 

Speed  to  his  sword,  and  vigour  to  his  arm  ; 

For  this  he  supplicates  the  God  afar, 

Fronts  the  steel' d  foe,  and  mingles  in  the  war. 

The  cannon 's  hush'd ;  nor  drum,  nor  clarion  sound ; 
Helmet  and  hauberk  gleam  upon  the  ground ; 


54  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Horseman  and  horse  lie  welt'ring  in  their  gore  j 
Patriots  are  dead,  and  heroes  dare  no  more  ; 
And  solemnly  the  moonlight  shrouds  the  plain, 
And  lights  the  lurid  features  of  the  slain ! 

And  see  !  where  swift  the  banner M  coursers  past, 
A  battle-steed  beneath  his  rider  cast ; 
Oh !  never  more  he'll  rear  with  fierce  delight, 
Roll  his  red  eyes,  and  rally  for  the  fight ; 
Pale  on  his  bleeding  breast  the  warrior  lies, 
While  from  his  ruffled  lids,  the  white-swelPd  eyes 
Ghastly  and  grimly  stare  upon  the  skies  ! 

But  who,  upon  the  battle-wasted  plain, 
Shall  count  the  faint,  the  gasping,  and  the  slain  ? 
Angel  of  Mercy !  ere  the  blood-fount  chill, 
And  the  brave  heart  be  spiritless  and  still, 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  55 

Amid  the  havoc  Thou  art  ho v" ring  nigh, 

To  calm  each  groan,  and  close  each  dying  eye, 

And  waft  the  spirit  to  that  halcyon  shore, 

Where  war's  loud  thunders  lash  the  winds  no  more. 

And  on  Thy  deep,  the  girdle  of  the  world, 
When  the  fierce  hurricanoes  have  unfuiTd 
Their  rapid  wings,  to  battle  and  to  rave, 
Sweep  down  the  rock,  and  scourge  the  yelling  wave  ; 
When  skies  in  tempest-agonies  outgroan, 
And  the  mad  elements  seem  left  alone, 
Lord  of  the  Storm  !  oh,  Thou  art  present  there, 
In  the  loud  thunder,  and  the  lightning  glare  ; 
And  from  the  roaring  of  the  midnight  sea 
The  mariner's  last  shriek  ascends  to  thee  1 

Lo !  to  the  yellow  beach  a  maiden  hies, 
Love  at.  her  heart,  and  sorrow  in  her  eyes  ; 


56  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Warm  down  her  cheek  impassion M  drops  of  woe, 
Through  fearful  omens,  for  her  lover  flow  : 
Oh  !  will  he,  far  by  faithless  ocean  borne, 
Dream  of  his  lonely  maid  who  lives  to  mourn  ? 
Will  he,  whene'er  by  palmy  streams  he  roams, 
Muse  on  their  twilight  walks,  and  woodbine  homes, 
And  that  first  spring,  when  in  the  cowslip  dale 
She  blush'd  an  answer  to  his  wooing  tale  ? 

The  beach  is  won ;  before  her  swells  the  sea, 
In  all  its  dark  and  dread  immensity  ! 
Wide  o'er  the  wave  a  wistful  glance  she  throws, 
Till  the  fond  lover  smiles  away  her  woes ; 
Voiceless  awhile  he  clasps  his  dark-eyed  maid, 
Then  looks  the  promise  love  has  often  said : 
But,  ere  his  vessel  in  the  horizons  blue, 
Mist-mingling,  dwindle  from  her  aching  view, 


uNIVERSITY 


II.] 

Sweet  mourner !  heaven-ward  Hope  uplifts  her  mind 
To  Him  who  wings  the  storm,  and  walks  the  wind ! 

Thrice  has  the  sun  upon  his  green- wav'd  bed, 
'Mid  rosy  clouds  his  vesper  radiance  shed ; 
And  thrice  the  moon  from  out  the  ocean  rose, 
Like  pale-eyed  beauty  waking  from  repose  ; 
While  glad  beneath,  the  lustre-weaving  wave 
Murmur'd  o'er  many  a  seaman's  weedy  grave. 

The  morn  is  up  ;  and  in  her  mellow  ray 
Millions  of  youthful  billows  pant  and  play  ; 
Greeting  the  stately  vessels  as  they  glide 
In  white-wing'd  triumph  o'er  the  breezy  tide. 

But  lo !  around  the  marsh'lling  clouds  unite, 
Like  thick  battalions  halting  for  the  fight ; 


58  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Fart 

The  sun  sinks  back,  the  tempest  spirits  sweep 
Fierce  through  the  air,  and  flutter  on  the  deep, 
Till  from  their  caverns  rush  the  maniac  blasts, 
Tear  the  loose  sails,  and  split  the  creaking  masts, 
And  the  lash'd  billows,  rolling  in  a  train, 
Rear  their  white  heads,  and  race  along  the  main  ! 

And,  see  !  hurFd  backward  from  a  hidden  rock, 
A  shattered  vessel  reeling  with  the  shock, 
Like  one  appall'd  by  an  unearthly  sight, 
Who  stands,  and  shivers  with  convulsive  fright : 
There,  in  a  den  of  waves,  she  rocks  awhile, 
Till  on  her  deck  the  howling  surges  pile  ; 
Then  struggling  sinks,  beneath  the  water's  leap, 
Like  a  huge  monster  wrestling  with  the  deep  ! 

Alone,  and  bark'd  upon  the  bounding  waves, 
Behold  a  mariner  the  tempest  braves  ! 


II.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  59 

Home,  life,  and  love,  and  near-imagin'd  death, 

Nerve  the  stout  limb,  and  lengthen  out  his  breath  : 

A  rock  is  reach' d  ;  dash'd  on  a  wave- worn  peak 

Lies  the  wreck'd  sailor,  shiv'ring,  wan,  and  weak  ; 

With  livid  face,  and  look  of  ghastly  dread, 

And  locks,  like  sea-weeds,  streaming  from  his  head  ; 

Unmov'd  his  lips,  but  with  his  upturn'd  eyes, 

He  shadows  forth  a  Saviour  in  the  skies  ; 

Visions  a  viewless  temple  in  the  air, 

Feels  God  around,  and  silence  is  his  prayer  1 

Can  Guilt,  though  hidden  from  the  gaze  of  earth* 
Fly  from  His  view,  who  gave  all  being  birth  ? 
From  its  first  shadow  on  the  sullied  heart, 
To  the  dark  hour  that  consummates  its  part, 
His  sleepless  eye  detects  each  buried  plan, 
And  bares  the  bosom  secret  of  the  man. 


60  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  LPart 

Yes  !  oft  he  locks  the  weapon  in  the  hand, 
And  makes  the  murd'rer  for  his  capture  stand  ; 
Or,  when  the  flood  of  years  has  rolled  away 
The  darksome  horrors  of  the  blood-curs' d  day, 
His  vengeance  frowns  upon  the  felon's  sleep, 
Forcing  his  haggard  eye  to  wake  and  weep. 

Upon  the  midnight  heath,  where  fierce  winds  growl, 
Like  famish'd  wolves  careering  as  they  howl, 
While  cloudy  billows  darkly  swell  and  rise 
As  if  an  ocean  brooded  in  the  skies, 
Aghast  and  quaking,  see  the  murd'rer  stand, 
Shrink  from  himself,  and  clench  his  crimson  hand  ; 
Unearthly  terror  gripes  his  shudd'ring  frame, 
While  Conscience  writhes  .upon  the  rack  of  Shame  : 
Beneath  him  gasps  the  victim  of  his  deed, 
In  that  faint  struggle  ere  the  spirit's  freed  ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  61i 

One  piteous  gaze — his  languid  eyelids  close, 
And  life  and  torture  sink  to  dead  repose. 

Why  stands  the  murd'rer  fetter'd  to  the  spotr 
Life,  fame,  and  judgment  in  his  guilt  forgot  ? 
With  ashy  lips  in  cold  convulsion  spread, 
And  fear  drops  oozing  from  his  tortur'd  head  ;, 
Chain'd  by  his  crime,  he  cannot — dare  not  flyr 
A  spirit  seems  to  grasp  him  from  the  sky  ! 
And  though  no  human  eye  the  murder  sees, 
A  curse  from  heaven  comes  mutter'd  in  each  breeze. 

Though  Crime  entomb  herself  within  the  heart, 
And  veil  her  anguish  with  dissembling  art  ; 
Though  'mid  the  glare  of  day,  and  dazzling  strife 
That  flutters  on  the  shadowy  stream  of  life, 
She  move  as  merry  as  the  morning  air, 
Unmarr'd  by  grief,  unsorrow'd  by  a  care, — 

F 


62  THE    OMNIPRESENCE 

Darkness  shall  bare  the  burden  of  her  sin, 
Arid  fan  the  hell  of  thought  that  flames  within  !' 


At  deep  dead  night,  when  not  an  earthly  sound 
Jars  on  the  brooding  air  that  sleeps  around  ; 
When  all  the  drossy  feelings  of  the  day, 
Touch'd  by  the  wand  of  Truth,  dissolve  away, 
Unhallow'd  Guilt  shall  in  her  bosom  feel 
A  rack  too  fierce  for  language  to  reveal  ; 
A  sense  unutterable  within  the  soul 
Of  him  pervading  —  living  through  the  whole  ; 
On  every  limb  shall  creeping  terror  come, 
Lock  her  white  lips,  and  strike  her  anguish  dumb  , 
Vengeance  shall  utter  a  tremendous  yell, 
And  Fancy  flutter  round  the  gulf  of  Hell  ! 

Not  so  comes  Darkness  to  the  good  man's  breast* 
When  night  brings  on  the  holy  hour  of  rest  ; 


II-]  OF    THE    DEITY. 

Tir'd  of  the  day,  a  pillow  laps  his  head, 
While  heavenly  vigils  watch  around  the  bed  ; 
His  spirit  bosom'd  on  the  God  of  All, 
Peace  to  the  hour!  whate'er  the  night  befall : 
Then  pleasing  Memory  unrolls  her  chart, 
To  raise,  refine,  and  regulate  the  heart  ;• 
Exulting  boyhood,  and  its  host  of  smiles, 
Next  busy  manhood  battling  with  its  toils, 
Delights  and  dreams  that  made  the  heart  run  o'er, 
The  love  forgotten,  and  the  friends  no  more — 
The  panorama  of  past  life  appears, 
Warms  his  pure  mind  and  melts  it  into  tears  ! 
Till,  like  a  shutting  flower,  the  senses  close, 
And  on  him  lies  the  beauty  of  repose. 

Yes,  in  the  dark,  Imagination  seems 
Girt  with  a  shadowy  brood  of  awful  dreams, 


64  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

That  round  her  in  appalling  visions  fly, 

Dread  as  the  phantoms  on  a  thunder  sky  ; 

And  Guilt  starts  back,  by  gloomy  horror  driven, — 

But  virtue  braves  them  with  a  smile  from  Heaven  ! 

5Tis  night :  and  mutt'ring  comes  the  winter  wind, 
While  cloud-battalions  slowly  march  behind  ; 
Alone  the  way-worn  pilgrim  winds  his  track, 
His  wallet  resting  on  his  weary  back ; 
Though  dark  the  path,  and  dreary  grows  the  night, 
And  not  a  heaven-lamp  beams  its  holy  light, 
Firm  o'er  the  starless  wrild  he  moves  his  way, 
For  He  pervades  the  night,  who  formed  the  day ! 
Thus  on  he  plods  beneath  the  brooding  sky, 

Till,  lo !  a  lattice  twinkles  on  his  eye, 

^ 
And  merrily  from  out  his  woodland  dome, 

His  babes  bound  forth,  and  hail  the  wand'rer  home  ! 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  65 

When  Conscience  darts  her  stings  into  the  mind, 
And  heart-broke  Folly  turns  to  look  behind, 
Then  righteous  Heaven !  without  thy  hopeful  ray, 
What  dark  despair  would  lower  on  our  way  ! 
Where  should  we  light  the  burden  of  our  woes  ? 
How  should  we  lull  our  anguish  to  repose  ? 
Oh !  when  the  rebel  heart  has  ceas'd  to  roam, 
And  yearns  repentant  for  its  hallow'd  home, 
Thy  love  will  hail  the  weeping  wand'rer  there, 
And  hush  to  peace  the  tempest  of  despair. 

And  not  more  beautiful  beneath  the  ray 
Of  risen  morn,  night-shades  dissolve  away, 
And  the  unmantled  world,  embathed  in  light, 
Awakes  in  chasten' d  glory,  clear  and  bright, 
Than  do  the  sinful  mists  that  shroud  the  soul 
Melt  oft  beneath  remorse's  stern  control, 


66  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Till  the  full  impress  of  the  God  appears, 
Made  pure  and  brilliant  by  repentant  tears  ! 

Now  day  by  day  celestial  feelings  rise 
Fresh  from  the  heart,  and  reach  th'  immortal  skies  ! 
Now  comes  the  hour,  when  rambling  all  unseen, 
Save  by  the  stars,  upon  the  dusky  green  ; 
When  winds  are  voiceless,  and  the  breezes  still, 
Save  truant  ones,  that  roam  the  wooded  hill ; 
Eternal  glories  dawn  upon  the  heart, 
Till  drops  of  rapture  from  the  soul-fount  start ; 
And  Sorrow,  bursting  from  Cimmerian  gloom, 
Darts  up  to  Heaven,  and  triumphs  o'er  the  tomb. 

But  when  the  erring  heart  at  Passion's  shrine 
Hath  basely  sacrific'd  each  trait  divifte  ; 
When  Guilt  hath  stain' d  it  with  her  deepest  dye, 
And  blood  for  blood  is  Nature's  dreadful  cry, 


II.]  OP    THE    DEITY.  67 

Angel  of  Mercy !  thy  supernal  power 
Alone  can  tame  the  terrors  of  the  hour  ; 
Thine  is  the  charm  that  bids  the  heart  unbind, 
Mount  on  the  wings  of  Faith,  and  leave  Despair  behind; 
Thine  is  the  voice  that  soothes  the  dying  breath, 

And  Breathes  a  halo  round  the  brow  of  death. 

* 

And  hark  !  the  midnight  bars  have  ceased  to  sound, 
The  dungeon  guard  has  paced  his  clanking  round, 
And  all  is  dark,  and  dismal  as  the  deep, 
When  weary  storms  sink  mutt'ring  into  sleep  : 
When  daybreak  gleams,  a  scaffold-floor  will  be 
The  felon's  step-place  to  eternity  ! 
And  one  there  is  in  yonder  glimm'ring  cell, 
Whose  young  heart  wept,  and  wonder 'd  while  it  fell  ; 
A  wreck  of  crime,  upon  his  flinty  bed, 
With  eye  wild-rolling  and  bewildered  'head  : 


68  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

'Tis  not  the  chain  that  clinks  upon  his  straw, 
'Tia  not  the  blow  of  violated  law, 
But  racking  thoughts  that  rive  his  shudd'ring  heart 
And  make  the  fibres  of  his  bosom  start ! 
Yes  !  they  have  borne  him  to  his  native  streams, 
Where  young-ey'd  Fancy  wove  her  fairy  dreams  ; 
To  each  green  glade  where  Boyhood  lov'd  to  roam 
Till  Twilight  came,  and  call'd  the  truant  home  : 
And  where  is  she  who  rock'd  him  to  repose, 
And  sang,  and  smil'd,  to  lull  his  infant  woes  ? 
And  he  who  greeted  with  paternal  joy 
The  dawning  virtues  of  his  darling  boy  ? — 
The  rank  grass  waves  upon  their  lonely  grave ! 
No  hand  was  by  to  solace  or  to  save ; 
Affection  wept  not  o'er  their  childless  gloom, 
Nor  passed  them  onward  to  a  peaceful  tomb  : 
That  working  eye,  and  palpitating  cheek, 
Those  wringing  hands,  and  that  delirious  shriek, 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  69 

But  ill  betray  the  burning  load  of  pain1 
Remembrance  piles  upon  his  phrensied'  brain  ! 
Till  Faith  descend  ;upon  her  wings  of  Love, 
Raise  the  droop'd  soul,  and  point  to  realms  above  ; 
Then,  firm  his  glance,  hush'd  every  groan  and  cry, 
And  Hypocrites  might  shake  to  view  a  felon  die. 

'Tis  sad  to  see  tfce  eye  forget  its  ray, 
And  sorrow  sit,  where  smiles  were  wont  to  play ; 
'Tis  sad  when  youth  is  fair,  and  fresh,  and  warm, 
And  life  is  fraught  with  every  sweeter  charm, 
To  see  it  close  the  lip,  and  droop  the  head, 
Wane  from  the  earth,  and  mingle  with  the  dead  ; 
But,  oh !  nor  death  nor  woe  can  ever  seem 
So  darkly  dismal  .as  that  wild' ring  dream — 
That  life  in  death — a  desolated  mind, 
Around  whose  wreck  the  weeds  of  madness  wind  1 


W  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Down  yon  romantic  dale,  where  hamlets  few 
Arrest  the  summer  pilgrim's  pensive  view, — 
The  village  wonder,  and  the  widow's  joy, — 
Dwells  the  poor,  mindless,  pale-faced  maniac  boy : 
He  lives  and  breaths,  and  rolls  his  vacant  eye, 
'To  greet  the  glowing  fancies  of  the  sky  ; 
But  on  his  cheek  unmeaning  shades  of  woe 
Reveal  the  wither'd  thoughts  that  sleep  below  ! 
A  soulless  thing,  a  spirit  'of  the  woods, 
He  loves  to  commune  with  the  fields  and  floods : 
Sometimes  along  the  woodland's  winding  glade, 
He  starts,  and  smiles  upon  his  pallid  shade  ; 
Or  scolds  with  idiot  threat  the  roaming  wind, 
But  re\>el  music  to  the  ruined  mind! — 
Or  on  the  shell-strewn  beach,  delighted  strays 
Playing  his  finggts  in  the  noon-tide  rays ; 
And  when  tlfe  sea- waves  swell  their  hollow  roar, 
lie  counts  the  billows  plunging  to  the  shore ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  7T 

And  oft  beneath  the  glimmer  of  the  moon. 
He  chants  some  wild  and  melancholy  tune  ;. 
Till  o'er  his  soft'ning  features  seems  to  play 
A  shadowy  gleam  of  mind's  reluctant  sway. 

Thus,  like  a  living  dream,  apart  from  men, 
From  morn  to  eve  he  haunts  the  wood  and  glen ; 
But  round  him, — near  him — wheresoe'er  he  rove, 
A  guardian  angel  tracks  him  from  above ! 
Nor  harm  from  flood  or  fen  shall  e'er  destroy 
The  mazy  wand'rings  of  the  maniac  boy. 

Thou  unimagin'd  God  1  though  every  hour, 
And  ev'ry  day,  speak  Thy  tremendous  power, 
Upon  the  seventh  creation's  work  was  crown'd, 
When  the  glad  universe  career'd  around  ! 
Then  ever  hallow'd  be  Thy  chosen  day, 
Till  Nature  die,  and  Time  shall  roll  away. 


72  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Sweet  Sabbath  morn!    from  childhood's  dimpled 

prime, 

I've  lov'd  to  hail  thy  calm-renewing  time  ? 
Soft  steal  thy  bells  upon  the  pensive  mind,3 
In  mingling  murmurs  floating  on  the  wind, 
Telling  of  friends  and  times  long  wing'd  away, 
And  blissful  hopes,  harmonious  with  the  day. 

On  thy  still  dawn,  while  holy  music  peals, 
And  far  around  the  ling 'ring  echo  steals, 
What  heart  communes  not  with  the  day's  repose, 
And,  lapp'd  in  angel  dreams,  forgets  its  woes. 
Who,  in  His  temple,  gives  to  God  a  prayer, 
Nor  feels  the  majesty  of  heaven  is  there  ? 

The  sacred  stillness  of  the  vaulted  pile, 

^ 

Where  gather'd  hearts  their  homage  breathe  awhile  ; 
The  mingled  burst  of  penitential  sighs, 
The  choral  anthem  pealing  to  the  skies, 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  73 

Exalt  the  soul  to  energies  sublime, 

Chain  the  wild  thought,  and  solemnize  the  time. 

Emblem  of  Peace !  upon  the  village  plain 
Thou  dawn'st  a  blessing  to  the  toil-worn  swain  ; 
Soon  as  thy  smiles  upon  the  upland  play, 
His  bosom  gladdens  with  the  bright'ning  day  ; 
Humble  and  happy,  to  his  lot  resigned, 
He  owns  the  inward  sabbath  of  the  mind. 

And  when,  with  bending  knee  and  sainted  tone, 
His  vows  are  breathed  unto  Jehovah's  throne, 
Serene  the  thoughts  that  o'er  his  bosom  steal, 
When  homeward  winding  for  the  Sabbath  meal  : 
There  shall  kind  Plenty  wear  her  sweetest  smiles  ; 
There  shall  his  rosy  children  play  their  wiles ; 
And  there  the  meek-ey'd  mother  muse  and  joy, 
And  court  with  frequent  kiss  her  infant  boy : 


74  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

At  noon,  a  ramble  round  the  burial  ground, 

A  moral  tear  on  some  lamented  mound* 

Or  breezy  walk  along  the  green  expanse, 

Where  summer  beauty  charms  the  lingering  glance, — 

These  are  the  wonted  blessings  of  the  day, 

That  all  his  weekly  toils  and  woes  repay  : 

And  when  aerial  Night  hath  veil'd  the  view, 

And  star-gleams  twinkle  on  the  meadow  dewr 

Some  elder  boy  beside  his  father's  knee 

Shall  stand  and  read  the  Holy  History  ; 

Or  peaceful  prayer,  or  chanted  hymn  shall  close 

The  hour  that  woos  him  ta  a  sweet  repose. 

And  Melody  ! — an  echo  breathed  from  heaven  1! 
By  her,  divine,  august  delight  is  giveji  ; 
Whether  she  melt  a  passion  from  the  mindy 
Or  with  ^Eolian  languish  lull  the  wind ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  75 

Whether  she  madden  in  the  mingled  roar 
Of  wrathful  billows  bounding  to  the  shore ; 
Or  on  the  downy  pinions  of  a  breeze 
Cradle  with  wooing  lullabies  the  trees  ; 
Alike  divine  ! — But  deeper  through  the  soul 
Glides  Melody's  omnipotent  control, 
When,  from  the  fluted  organ,  full  and  deep, 
Billows  of  music  through  the  dim  aisles  sweep  : 
Ear,  eye,  and  heart  confess  the  awful  spell, 
While  soul  and  being  with  the  magic  swell, 
And  as  the  spiral  echoes  upward  wind, 
Die  off— and  scarcely  leave  the  man  behind  ! 

And  now,  while  faintly-ebbing  murmurs  roll 
Entrancing  music  o'er  the  prostrate  soul, 
Sublimely  sad !  to  linger  in  some  aisle, 
Where,  through  the  blazon'd  panes,  the  vesper  smile 


76  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

With  pallid  radiance  quivers  in  the  gloom, 

Or  crowns,  like  seraph  light,  the  inspiring  tomb  ; 

And  feel  at  such  an  hour  the  heart  unfold, 

Struck  by  the  presence  of  the  sage  and  bold  I 

The  tomb-like  echoes  of  the  vaulted  ground, 

The  monumental  awe  suffused  around, 

The  fretted  arch  with  its  gigantic  sweep, 

The  world's  great  spirits  throned  in  marble  sleep, 

Subdue  each  earthly  passion  into  fear, 

While  Fancy's  shapeless  beings  hover  near ! 

But  not  alone  the  stately-vaulted  pile, 
The  echoing  cloister,  or  the  pillar'd  aisle, 
Hallow  the  mind  :  the  humblest  fanes  impart 
A  holy  magic  to  the  feeling  heart.       ^ 

And  see  !  down  where  yon  arches  shed  their  gloom, 
And  mottos  speak  from  many  a  time-worn  tomb, 


II. J  OF    THE    DEITY.  77 

There,  where  the  font  uprears  its  marble  brow, 
The  village  sponsors  breathe  their  solemn  vow 
While  pensively  a  mother,  young  and  mild, 
Offers  to  heaven  the  homage  of  her  child  ; 
And  oft  she  gazes  on  the  sleeping  boy, 
Lock'd  to  her  breast  with  all  a  mother's  joy  ; 
Fearful  and  fond,  and  twining  for  repose, 
Like  a  young  bud  around  the  parent  rose. 

But  who  shall  paint  her  meditative  eye, 
Her  look  of  love,  and  heaven-appealing  sigh, 
When  on  the  cherub  brow,  with  hope  divine, 
The  holy  preacher  prints  the  liquid  sign  ? 
Joy,  doubt,  and  fear  in  mingling  torrent  rise, 
Gush  through  her  heart,  and  glitter  in  her  eyes. 

Whene'er  I  gaze  upon  a  sinless  child, 

Tossing  its  merry  head  of  ringlets  wild, — 
G  2 


78  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  fP 

Lip,  cheek,  and  eye,  all  in  that  lovely  glow 
Young  spirits  feel,  as  yet  unchill'd  by  woe, 
A  voiceless  wonder  animates  each  sense, 
To  think  how  Mercy  watches  innocence. 

Survey  the  scene  of  life  :   in  yonder_room, 
Pillow 'd  in  beauty  'mid  the  cradle  glooin, 
While  o'er  its  features  plays  an  angel  smile, 
A  breathing  cherub  slumbers  for  awhile  : 
Those  budding  lips,  that  faintly-fringed  eye, 
That  placid  cheek,  and  uncomplaining  sigh, 
The  little  limbs  in  soft  embrace  entwined, 
Like  flower-leaves  folded  from  the  gelid  wind  ; 

All  in  their  tender  charms,  her  babe  endear, 

I 
And  feed  the  luxury  of  a  mother's  fear. 

Next,  mark  her  infant  rais'd  to  childhood's  stage, 
Bound  in  the  bloom  of  that  delightful  age, — 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  79 

With  heart  as  light  as  sunshine  on  the  deep, — 
And  eye  that  woe  has  scarcely  taught  to  weep ! 
The  tip-toe  gaze,  the  pertinacious  ken, 
Each  rival  attribute  of  mimick'd  men, 
The  prompt  decision,  and  presuming  way. 
Now  picture  forth  his  yet  auspicious  day. 

Whether  at  noon  he  guides  his  tiny  boat 
By  winding  streams,  and  woody  banks  remote, 
Or  climbs  the  meadow  tree,  or  trails  the  kite, 
Till  clouds  aerial  veil  his  ravish' d  sight ; 
Or  roams  the  shady  wood  at  dying  day, 
To  list  with  charmed  ear  the  cuckoo's  lay ; 
A  hand  above  o'errules  the  daring  boy, 
And  draws  the  daily  circle  of  his  joy. 

And  thus,  when  manhood  brings  its  weight  of  care, 
To  swell  the  soul,  and  curb  the  giddy  air, 


80  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

The  father,  friend,  the  patriot,  and  the  man, 
Share  in  the  love  of  Heaven's  parental  plan ; 
Till  age  o'ersteal  his  mellow'd  form  at  last, 
And  wintry  locks  tell  summer  youth  is  past ; 
Then  like  the  sun,  slow- wheeling  to  the  wave, 
He  sinks  in  glory  to  a  welcome  grave. 

Lord  of  the  Universe  !  supreme  !  sublime  ! 
Who  fathomest  the  ocean-depths  of  time, 
Though  oft  thy  red- wing' d  lightnings  sear  the  sky, 
And  mutt' ring  thunders  mark  thy  track  on  high, 
One  omnipresent,  ever-sleepless  Love 
Pervades,  directs,  and  tempers  from  above  : 
When  from  Thy  hands  primeval  Earth  outsprang, 
And  starry  music  o'er  the  launch' d  world  rang, 
Thine  emblem,  GOD,  was  LOVE  ! — nor  eye  can  see 
Where  love  is  not  the  master  trait  of  Thee. 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  81 

And  since  that  time,  when  to  her  Eden  bower 
The  god-like  Adam  led  his  beauty  dower, 
And  there,  while  music  harmoniz'd  the  grove, 
Attun'd  each  rapture  to  requited  love, 
Have  souls  commingled  in  affection's  flame, 
In  weal  unsever'd,  and  in  woe  the  same. 

Young,  chaste,  and  lovely — pleas'd,  yet  half  afraid, 
Before  yon  altar  droops  a  plighted  maid, 
Clad  in  her  bridal  robes  of  taintless  white, 
Dumb  with  the  scene,  and  trepid  with  delight ; 
Around  her  hymeneal  guardians  stand, 
Each  with  a  tender  look  and  feeling  bland  ; 
And  oft  she  turns  her  beauty-beaming  eye, 
Dimm'd  with  a  tear  for  happiness  gone  by  ! 
Then  coyly  views,  in  youth's  commanding  pride, 
Her  own  adored  one  panting  by  her  side  ; 


82  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Like  lilies  bending  from  the  noon-tide  blaze, 
Her  bashful  eye-lids  droop  beneath  his  gaze ; 
While  love  and  homage  blend  their  blissful  power, 
And  shed  a  halo  round  his  marriage  hour ! 

What  though  his  chance-abounding  life  ordain 
A  path  of  anguish  and  precarious  pain ; 
By  want  or  woe,  where'er  compell' d  he  rove,  ^ 
_  A  cot's  a  palace  by  the  light  of  love ! 
There  beats  one  heart  which,  until  death,  will  be 
A  gushing,  glowing  fount  of  sympathy  ; 
One  frownless  eye  to  kindle  with  his  own, 
One  changeless  friend,  when  other  friends  are  flown  ; 
O  !  sanction  Thou  the  love-united  pair, 
Fountain  of  love  !  for  Thou  art  present  there. 

There  are  some  heart-entwining  hours  in  life, 
With  sweet  seraphic  inspiration  rife  ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  83 

When  mellowing  thoughts,  like  music  on  the  ear. 
Melt  through  the  soul,  and  revel  in  a  tear  1 
And  such  are  they,  when,  tranquil  and  alone, 
We  sit  and  ponder  on  long  periods  flown  ; 
And,  charm'd  by  Fancy's  retrospective  gaze, 
Live  in  an  atmosphere  of  other  days  ; 
Till  friends  and  faces  flashing  on  the  mind, 
Conceal  the  havoc  Time  has  left  behind  I 

Yon  aged  man, — with  what  a  musing  eye 
He  dreams  and  lingers  o'er  the  days  fled  by, 
When  pensive  sitting  by  his  evening  fire, 
To  Mem'ry's  peaceful  glade  his  thoughts  retire  ; 
While  cherub  grandsons  pat  his  willing  knee, 
Shake  their  bright  curls,  and  prattle  off  their  glee  1 
Now  gently  fleet  back  joy-wingM  days  of  old, 
When  hope  led  forward,  and  the  eye  look'd  bold  ; 


84  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

With  holy  calm  he  thinks  of  place  and  time, 
Belov'd  when  left,  imblotted  with  a  crime  ; 
Gone  friendship's  smiles  are  re-illumined  now, 
And  gleams  of  fancy  brighten  on  his  brow! 
What  hand  puissant  gave  to  life  each  form, 
Scatter' d  the  cloud,  and  piloted  the  storm  ? 
Guided  him  onward  through  his  thorny  road, 
Bestow'd  each  joy,  and  brightened  each  abode  ? 
Ah !  see  the  pious  tear  of  memory  roll 
A  welling  rapture  from  his  grateful  soul, 
That  trembles,  like  the  waking  wings  of  Joy, 
To  feel  Who  rais'd  the  man,  and  rear'd  the  boy  ! 

Chained  to  the  car  of  Time,  as  on  we  roll 
Through  storm  and  tempest  to  th'  eternal  goal, 
How  favour'd  he !  whose  sapient  soul  refined, 
Meets  by  the  way  some  all-partaking  mind  ; 


II.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  85 

Some  feeling  friend  by  Nature  mark'd  our  own, 
And  moulded  true  to  every  tender  tone. 
Let  fortune  frown,  congenial  scenes  depart, 
And  farewell !  rive  the  fetters  of  the  heart ! 
'Tis  sweet  when  roaming  by  the  wave-girt  strand, 
To  weave  fond  visions  of  our  own  far  land  ; 
Or  dream,  while  faintly  chimes  the  convent  bell, 
On  distant  friends,  and  each  domestic  spell, 
And  feel  one  Spirit  marks  our  lone  career, 
And  dwells  in  every  heart,  to  Friendship  dear. 

And  if  brief  absence  in  our  stormy  life 
Force  in  fond  bosoms  sympathetic  strife, 
How  crack  the  heart-strings  when  Death's  giant  hand 
Tears  a  lov'd  victim  to  his  shadowy  land ! 
O  Death !  thou  dreadless  vanquisher  of  earth, 
The  Elements  shrunk  blasted  at  thy  birth  I 


86  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Careering  round  the  world  like  tempest  wind, 
Martyrs  before,  and  victims  strew' d  behind, 
Ages  on  ages  cannot  grapple  thee, 
Dragging  the  World  into  Eternity  ! 

And,  say,  when  panting  on  our  couch  we  lie, 
And  scan  the  future  with  uncheated  eye, 
How  coils  Imagination  from  the  tomb, 
Shrinks  into  awe,  and  shudders  at  its  doom ; 
What  shapes  of  horror  glide  around  our  bed, 
Damp  from  the  ghastly  regions  of  the  dead  ; 
While  Fancy  hovers  o'er  that  fearful  brink, 
Where  Faith  turns  wild,  and  Thought  too  weak  to 

think  ; 

Trembling  and  starting,  like  a  shade  in  sleep, 
Or  a  lone  vessel  on  the  wind-lash' d  deep  ; 
Till  Revelation's  heaven-directed  beam 
Melts  every  doubt  in  a  celestial  dream; 


II.]  OP    THE    DEITY.  87 

Oh !  then  no  more  convulsing  terrors  roll ! 
Then,  then,  the  hallelujah  of  the  Soul! 
Wrapt  in  the  blaze  of  heaven,  it  wings  away 
To  the  bright  bowers  of  everlasting  day. 

Lo !  on  his  curtain'd  couch,  with  pillow' d  head, 
And  pallid  limbs  in  dewy  languor  spread, 
The  dying  parent,  like  a  wailing  breeze, 
Moans  in  the  feverish  grasp  of  wan  Disease ; 
While,  sad  and  watching,  with  a  sleepless  eye, 
His  lovely  daughter  sits,  and  muses  by : 
So  Gabriel  sat  within  the  Saviour's  tomb, 
When  his  pure  Spirit  walk'd  the  unearthly  gloom  t 

There,  as  the  melancholy  midnight  bell 
Knolls  o'er  the  drowsy  world  the  day's  farewell, 
Frequent  she  glances  at  his  wrinkled  brow, 
And  those  dear  eyes,  so  dim  and  deathful  now 


88  THE   OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Till  all  his  love  and  all  his  care  returns, 

And  memory  through  her  brain  and  bosom  burns. 

That  drooping  hand,  so  delicately  weak, 

How  often  had  it  smoothed  her  infant  cheek  ; 

Or  danc'd  her,  lightly-tripping  by  his  side, 

And  prattling  sweetly  with  delighted  pride  ; 

Or  pluck' d  the  painted  flower  that  charm 'd  her  age, 

Or  gently  oped  Instruction's  pictured  page, 

Or  pointed  to  the  trepid  beauty-star 

That  twinkled  in  the  vesper  sky  afar. 

And  see !  no  more  the  arrowy  throes  of  pain 
Pierce  his  bound  head,  or  force  the  plaintive  strain  ; 
Slumber  hath  heaPd  them  with  assuasive  balm, 

And  chain 'd  the  senses  in  oblivion's  calm  : 
Pleas' d  at  his  quiet  mein,  with  timid  breath 
She  stirs  to  see — alas !  the  sleep  of  Death  ; 


II.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  89 

Pulseless  and  pale,  beneath  the  taper's  glow, 
Lies  her  loved  parent, — but  a  lifeless  show  ! 

She  shook  not,  shriek'd  not,  rais'd  no  maniac  cry, 
Nor  wrung  her  hand,  nor  heav'd  one  heart-deep  sigh  ; 
But  stood  aghast,  too  dreadful  for  relief, 
Mute,  stiff,  and  white, — a  monument  of  Grief  I 

To  hear  the  dying  their  faint  murmurs  speak, 
And  watch  the  death-glaze  smooth  the  waxen  cheek  ; 
To  see  the  fiery  eye-ball  fiercely  roll, 
As  if  it  wrestlM  with  the  parting  soul ; 
Or  hear  the  last  clod  crumble  on  the  bed, 
And  sound  the  hollow  mansion  of  the  dead  ; 
This,  this  is  woe  !     But  deeper  far  that  gloom 
That  haunts  us  when  we  pace  the  desert  room, 
And  shadow  forth  an  image  of  our  love, 
Rapt  to  Elysian  realms  of  light  above  : 


90  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  OF  THE    DEITY.        [Part  II. 

'Tig  now,  while  low  and  long  the  heavy  knell 
Rolls  on  the  breeze  a  parted  soul's  farewell, 
Despair  and  Anguish  darken  round  our  view, 
And  all  but  Sorrow  seems  to  be  untrue. 
How  sadly  vacant  turns  the  frequent  gaze, 
To  where  the  mourn'd  one  smiled  in  other  days  I 
The  eye  that  glitter 'd  with  the  gen'rous  thought, 
The  glowing  mind  with  worth  and  wisdom  fraught ; 
The  twilight  walk  by  some  romantic  stream, 
Where  Friendship  warm'd,  while  Fancy  wove  her 

dream ; 

The  smile,  and  wit, — all,  all  the  faithful  heart 
Delights  to  trace  on  memory's  mazy  chart, 
Return  upon  us  :  OMNIPRESENT  POWER  ! 
'Tis  Thine  to  lull  this  agonizing  hour ; 
To  charm  the  burden  from  the  soul  and  give 
The  tears  that  solace,  and  the  hopes  that  live. 
END  OF  PART  II. 


PART  III. 


ANALYSTS  OF  PART  III. 


IF  there  be  no  God,  the  former  parts  of  this  Poem  are  raised 
on  fanciful  feelings  and  superstitious  fiction  : — Can  we  ob- 
serve the  wonders  of  Creation,  and  deem  Chance  their 
origin  ? — The  consequences  that  accrue  from  this  distem- 
pered doctrine  : — By  a  natural,  but  melancholy  digression, 
we  are  here  led  to  glance  at  Atheism,  as  partially  influenc- 
ing the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution — Marie  Antoi- 
nette— Her  appearance  on  the  balcony  during  the  tumults 
at  Versailles. 

Return  to  a  consideration  of  Atheism — It  is  a  sorry  boast 
to  triumph  over  a  belief  of  man's  immortality — If  the  soul 
be  not  immortal,  how  are  we  to  account  for  those  aspira- 
tions which  are  never  satisfied  with  the  highest  attainment 
of  earthly  enjoyment  ? — The  dismal  doctrine  of  believing  all 
ties  of  love  eternally  severed  by  Death  : — when  we  reflect 
on  the  master-spirits  of  gone  time,  can  we  imagine  them 
eternally  quenched  ? — Consolations  derived  from  a  belief  in 


94  ANALYSIS. 

a  future  state — The  different  feelings  with  which  the  Athe- 
ist and  the  Christian  face  death — Pictures  of  the  death-bed 
of  a  Sceptic  and  a  Christian — The  Poem  concludes  with  a 
description  of  the  Final  Doom. 


PART  III. 


Now,  while  the  starry  choirs  aerial  rise, 

And  liquid  moonlight  mellows  all  the  skies, 

Oh !  let  sublime  Imagination  soar 

High  as  the  lightnings  rage,  or  thunders  roar  ; 

Ride  on  the  deep,  or  travel  with  the  sun, 

Far  as  Creation  smiles,  or  Time  has  run : 

So  shall  her  eagle  eye  divinely  see 

A  living  universe  of  Deity ! 

In  every  wave  and  wind,  arid  fruit  and  flower, 

The  beauty,  grace,  and  terror  of  His  power. 


96  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Who  hung  yon  planet  in  its  airy  shrine, 
And  dash'd  the  sunbeam  from  its  burning  mine  ? 
Who  bade  the  ocean-mountains  swell  and  leap, 
And  thunder  rattle  from  the  skiey  deep  ? 
Through  hill  and  vale  who  twined  the  healthful  stream, 
Made  rain  to  nurture,  and  the  fruit  to  teem  ? 
Who  charm' d  the  clod  into  a  breathing  shrine, 
And  filPd  it  with  a  living  flame  divine  ? 
One  Great  Enchanter  helm'd  the  harmonious  whole, 
Creator ! — God ! — the  grand  primeval  Soul ! 

And  dare  men  dream  that  dismal  Chance  has  framed 
All  that  the  eye  perceives,  or  tongue  has  named  ; 
The  spacious  world,  and  all  its  wonders,  born 
Designless,  self-created,  and  forlorn ; 
Like  to  the  flashing  bubbles  on  a  stream, 
Fire  from  the  cloud,  or  phantom  in  a  dream  ? 


III.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  97 

That  no  grand  Builder  plied  His  plastic  force, 
Gave  to  each  object,  form, — to  motion,  course  ? 
Then,  blood-stain'd  Murder,  bare  thy  hideous  arm, 
And  thou,  Rebellion,  welter  in  thy  storm  : 
Awake,  ye  spirits  of  avenging  crime  ; 
Burst  from  your  bonds,  and  battle  with  the  time ! 
Why  should  the  orphans  of  the  world  who  roam 
O'er  earth's  bleak  waste,  without  a  friend — a  home, 
With  resignation  mark  their  fellow  clay 
Bask  in  the  sunshine  of  a  better  day  ? 
Why  should  the  vagrant  shiver  at  the  door, 
Nor  'spoil  the  miser  of  his  treasured  ore  ! 
Save  Faith's  sweet  music  harmonized  the  mindr 
Whispered  of  Heaven,  and  bade  it  be  resign'd. 

And  here,  let  Memory  turn  her  tearful  glance 
On  the  dark  horrors  of  tumultuous  France  ; 
i 


98  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [P*rt 

When  blood  and  blasphemy  defiled  her  land, 
And  fierce  Rebellion  shook  her  savage  hand, 
While  women  flung  their  female  hearts  away, 
Rear'd  the  red  pike,  and  butcher'd  for  their  pay.4 

No  more  the  tocsin  for  the  carnage  tolls, 
No  death-piled  tumbril  from  the  slaughter  rolls ; 
The  blood  has  dried  upon  the  wither'd  plain, 
And  brave  La  Vende'e  blooms  in  peace  again  ; 
Still  may  we  raise  an  image  of  the  times, 
And  draw  a  moral  from  a  nation's  crimes. 

Unhappy  land !  did  godless  wisdom  pour 
Delightful  Liberty  from  shore  to  shore  ? 
Ah  no !  perverted  Freedom  curs'd  the  day 
With  nameless  deeds  of  horror  and  dismay ; 
Till  heaven  avenging  seized  its  ravish'd  power, 
And  crush'd  an  empire  to  decide  her  hour. 


Ill-]  OF    THE    DEITY.  99 

Let  streets  of  blood,  let  dungeons  choked  with  dead, 
The  tortur'd  brave,  the  royal  hearts  that  bled ; 
Let  plunder'd  cities,  and  polluted  fanes, 
The  butcher'd  thousands  piled  upon  the  plains — 
Let  the  foul  orgies  of  infuriate  crime 
Picture  the  raging  havoc  of  that  time, 
When  leagued  Rebellion  march'd  to  kindle  man, 
Fright  in  her  rear,  and  Murder  at  her  van ! 

And  thou,  sweet  flower  of  Austria,  slaughtered 

Queen, 

Who  dropp'd  no  tear  upon  the  dreadful  scene, 
When  gush'd  the  life-stream  from  thine  angel  form, 
And  martyr'd  beauty  perish'd  in  the  storm ; 
Once  worshipped  paragon  of  all  who  saw, 
Thy  look  obedience,  and  thy  smile  a  law  : 
When  midnight  tumults  agoniz'd  thy  head, 
And  rebel  daggers  pierced  thy  regal  bed ; 


100  THE   OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

While  loud  below,  the  assassin  raised  Ms  yell,. 
And  howl'd  for  victims  while  his  hatchet  fell  -T 
Brave  to  the  last,  methinks  I  see  thee  stand, 
Thine  infants  clinging  to  thy  faithful  hand, 
And  face  majestical  the  murd'rous  throng 
That  ramp'd  and  foam'd  and  scream' d  their  loath- 
some song  ! — 

E'en  then  thy  queenly  prowess  hush'd  their  roar, 
Till  Mercy  smiled,  and  Treason  dared  no  more. 

Unhallowed  men !  whose  thankless  eyes  can  glance 
On  all  around,  and  deem  it  born  of  Chance  ; 
Self-martyr' d  victims  to  unfathom'd  gloom,. 
Your  life  a  vision,  and  your  heart  a  tomb  ; 
The  source  and  end  of  being  in  the  ground, 
Where  all  is  silent  and  your  goal  is  found. 
How  charmless  time  must  stream  away  with  you  ;. 
To  struggle,  wish,  and  weep,  and  then — Adieu ! 


ITI.J  OP   THE    DFJTT.  101 

Ye  cannot  stifle  Sorrow  at  her 


r 

By  hopes  prevailing  o'er  the  woes  of  earth  ; 
Nor  fire  the  lukewarm  passions  of  the  soul 
By  immortality's  sublime  control ; 
Share  with  the  majesty  of  earth  and  sky, 
Mount  on  a  thought,  and  talk  with  DEITY  ! 

Boast  not  of  wisdom,  if  her  precepts  say 
Th'  immortal  essence  mingles  with  the  clay  ; 
In  polar  isles,  where  Wisdom's  mellow  beam 
Ne'er  chasten'd  beauty's  glance,  or  rapture's  dream, 
E'en  there  a  Deity  pervades  the  mind, 
Speaks  in  the  storm*  and  travels  on  the  wind.5 

And  shall  the  soul,  the  fount  of  reason,  die, 
When  dust  and  darkness  round  its  temple  lie  ? 
Did  God  breathe  in  it  no  etherial  fire, 

Dimless  and  quenchless,  though  the  breath  expire  ? 
12 


102  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

Then  why  were  godlike  aspirations  given, 
That,  scorning  earth,  so  often  frame  a  heaven  ? 
Why  does  the  ever-craving  wish  arise, 
For  better,  nobler,  than  the  world  supplies  ? 
Ah,  no !  it  cannot  be  that  men  were  sent 
To  live  and  languish  on  in  discontent ; 
That  Soul  was  moulded  to  betrayful  trust, 
To  feel  like  God,  and  perish  like  the  dust. 

If  Death  for  ever  doom  us  to  the  clod, 
And  earth-born  Pleasure  be  our  only  god, 
The  rapid  years  shall  bury  all  we  love, 
Nor  leave  one  hope  to  re-unite  above  ; 
No  more  the  voice  of  Friendship  shall  beguile, 
No  more  the  mother  on  her  infant  smile  ; 
But  vanishing,  like  rain  upon  the  deep, 
Nature  shall  perish  in  eternal  sleep  ! 


HI.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  103 

Illustrious  beacons,  spirits  of  the  just, 
Are  ye  embosom'd  in  perennial  dust  ? 
Shall  ye,  whose  names,  undimm'd  by  ages,  shine 
Bright  as  the  flame  that  mark'd  ye  for  divine, 
For  ever  slumber — never  meet  again, 
Too  pure  for  sorrow,  too  sublime  for  pain  ? 
Ah,  no  !  celestial  Fancy  loves  to  fly 
With  eager  pinion,  and  prophetic  eye, 
To  radient  dwellings  of  immortal  bliss 
Far  from  a  world  so  woe-begone  as  this  ; 
There,  as  the  choral  melodies  career, 
Sublimely  rolling  through  the  seraph  sphere, 
In  angel-forms  you  all  again  unite, 
And  bathe  in  streams  of  everlasting  light. 

When  friends  have  vanish' d  to  their  viewless  home, 
And  we  are  left  companionless  to  roam, 


104  THE   OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

O,  what  can  cheer  our  melancholy  way, 
But  hopes  of  union  in  the  Land  of  Day  ? 
Soul-loved !  companions  of  our  greener  years, 
Warm'd  at  our  joys,  and  weeping  at  our  tears, 
How  oft  renewing  Memory  paints  each  hour, 
When  Friendship  triumphed  and  the  heart  had  power ! 
Yes,  hallow' d  are  those  visions  of  the  brain, 
When  Heaven  unveils,  and  loved  ones  smile  again. 

And  thou,  for  ever  fond,  for  ever  true, 
Beneath  whose  smile  the  boy  to  manhood  grew  ; 
To  sorrow  gentle,  and  to  error  mild, 
Shall  death  for  ever  tear  thee  from  thy  child  ? 
Ah,  no !  when  thy  bewilder' d  days  are  o'er, 
And  toils  and  troubles  shall  prevail  no  more, 
Thy  renovated  soul  shall  breathe  above, 
In  amaranthine  bowers  of  bliss  and  love  ; 


III.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  105 

There  shall  we  muse  amid  the  starry  glow, 
Or  hear  the  fiery  streams  of  Glory  flow  ; 
Or,  on  the  living  cars  of  lightning  driven, 
Triumphant  wheel  around  the  plains  of  heaven. 

And  say !  how  will  the  sceptic  brave  the  hour 
Of  Death's  divine,  inexorable  power, 
When  all  this  fairy  world  shall  glide  away, 
Like  midnight  dreams  before  the  morning  day  ? 
See !  how  he  shudders  at  the  thought  of  death  ; 
What  doubt  and  horror  hang  upon  his  breath ; 
The  gibb'ring  teeth,  glaz'd  eye,  and  marble  limb,- 
Shades  from  the  tomb  stalk  out,  and  stare  on  him  ! 

Lo  !  there,  in  yonder  fancy-haunted  room, 
What  mutter'd  curses  trembled  through  the  gloom > 
When  pale,  and  shiv'ring,  and  bedew'd  with  fear, 
The  dying  sceptic  felt  his  hour  drew  near  ! 


106  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

From  his  parch'd  tongue  no  sainted  murmurs  fell, 

No  bright  hopes  kindled  at  his  faint  farewell ; 

As  the  last  throes  of  death  convulsed  his  cheek, 

He  gnash' d,  and  scowl' d,  and  raised  a  hideous  shriek, 

Rounded  his  eyes  into  a  ghastly  glare, 

Lock'd  his  white  lips— and  all  was  mute  despair ! 

Go,  child  of  darkness,  see  a  Christian  die ; 
No  horror  pales  his  lip,  or  rolls  his  eye  ; 
No  dreadful  doubts,  or  dreamy  terrors,  start 
The  hope  Religion  pillows  on  his  heart, 
When  with  a  dying  hand  he  waves  adieu 
To  all  who  love  so  well,  and  weep  so  true  : 
Meek,  as  an  infant  to  the  mother's  breast 
Turns  fondly  longing  for  its  wonted  rest, 
He  pants  for  where  congenial  spirits  stray, 
Turns  to  his  God,  and  sighs  his  soul  away  1 


III.]  OF   THE   DEITY.  107 

But  what  is  death,  or  danger,  storm,  or  sea, 
What  are  the  loudest  thunders  launched  by  Thee, 
Eternal  Spirit !  to  a  blazing  world, — 
A  universe  from  its  foundations  hurl'd  ? 
Then,  then  will  come  thine  OMNIPRESENT  hour. 
And  ruin'd  worlds  dissolve  beneath  its  power. 

Ages  has  awful  Time  been  travelling  onT 
And  all  his  children  to  one  tomb  have  gone  ; 
The  varied  wonders  of  the  peopled  earth, 
In  equal  turn,  have  gloried  in  their  birth  : 
We  live,  and  toil,  we  triumph,  and  decay, — 
Thus  age  on  age  rolls  unperceiv'd  away  ; 
And  thus  'twill  be,  till  heaven's  last  thunders  roar, 
And  Time  and  Nature  shall  exist  no  more. 

O  !  say,  what  Fancy,  though  endow'd  sublime, 
Can  picture  truly  that  tremendous  time, 


108  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

When  the  last  sun  shall  blaze  upon  the  sea, 

And  Earth  be  dash'd  into  Eternity ! 

A  cloudy  mantle  will  enwrap  that  sun, 

Whose  face  so  many  worlds  have  gaz'd  upon  ; 

The  placid  moon,  beneath  whose  pensive  beam 

We  all  have  loved  to  wander  and  to  dream, 

Dyed  into  blood,  shall  glare  from  pole  to  pole, 

And  light  the  airy  tempests  as  they  roll ; 

And  those  sweet  stars,  that,  like  familiar  eyes, 

Are  wont  to  smile  a  welcome  from  the  skies, 

Thick  as  the  hail-drops,  from  their  depths  will  bound, 

And  far  terrific  meteors  flash  around  ; 

But  while  the  skies  are  scatter'd  by  the  war 

Of  planet,  moon,  rent  cloud,  and  down-shot  star, 

Stupendous  wreck  below — a  burning  world ! 

As  if  the  flames  of  hell  were  on  the  winds  unfurl'dl 


III.]  OF   THE   DEITY.  109 

Around  the  horizon  wheels  one  furnace  blaze, 
Streaking  the  black  heavens  with  gigantic  rays ; 
Now  bursting  into  wizard  phantoms  bright, 
And  now  immingled  in  a  sea  of  light ; 
Till  racing  hurricanes  unrol  on  high, 
And  whirl  the  fire-clouds  quiv'ring  through  the  sky  • 
Like  sea-foam  flung  upon  a  mountain-side, 
When  maniac  winds  upon  the  surges  ride. 

And,  lo !  the  Sea :  along  her  ruin'd  shore 
The  white  waves  gallop  with  delirious  roar, 
Till  Ocean,  in  her  agonizing  throe, 
Bounds,  swells,  and  sinks,  like  leaping  hills  of  snow ! 
While  downward  vollied  crags  and  torrents  sweep, 
And  wildly  mingle  with  the  blaze-lit  deep. 

And  now,  while  shadowy  worlds  career  around, 
While  mountains  tremble,  and  while  earthquakes  sound, 


110  THE    OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

While  waves  and  winds  rush  roaring  to  the  fray, 
Who  shall  abide  the  horrors  of  the  day  ? 
How  shall  we  turn  our  terror-stricken  eye, 
To  gaze  upon  the  fire-throned  DEITY  ? 

Hark !  from  the  deep  of  heaven,  a  trumpet  sound 
Thunders  the  dizzy  universe  around ; 
From  north  to  south,  from  east  to  west,  it  rolls, 
A  blast  that  summons  all  created  souls ; 
And  swift  as  ripples  rise  upon  the  deepT 
The  dead  awaken  from  their  dismal  sleep  : 
The  Sea  has  heard  it ; — coiling  up  with  dreadr 
Myriads  of  mortals  flash  from  out  her  bed  I 
The  graves  fly  open,  and  with  awful  strife? 
The  dust  of  ages  startles  into  life  1 

All  who  have  breathM,  or  mov'd,  or  seen,  or  felt ; 
All  they  around  whose  cradles  Kingdoms  knelt ; 


III.]  OF    THE    DEITY.  Ill 

Tyrants  and  warriors,  who  career'd  in  blood  ; 
The  great  and  mean,  the  glorious  and  the  good, 
Are  raised  from  every  isle,  and  land,  and  tomb, 
To  hear  the  changeless  and  eternal  doom. 

But  while  the  universe  is  wrapt  in  fire, 
Ere  yet  the  splendid  ruin  shall  expire, 
Beneath  a  canopy  of  flame  behold, 
With  starry  banners  at  his  feet  unrolPd 
Earth's  Judge :  around  seraphic  minstrels  throng, 
Breathing  o'er  golden  harps  celestial  song  ; 
While  melodies  aerial  and  sublime 
Weave  a  wild  death-dirge  o'er  departing  Time 

Imagination !  furl  thy  wings  of  fire, 
And  on  Eternity's  dread  brink  expire ; 
Vain  would  thy  red  and  raging  eye  behold 
Visions  of  Immortality  unroll' d ! 


112  THE   OMNIPRESENCE  [Part 

The  last,  the  fiery  chaos  hath  begun, 
Quench'd  is  the  moon !  and  blacken' d  is  the  sun ! 
The  stars  have  bounded  through  the  airy  roar  ; 
Crush'd  lie  the  rocks,  and  mountains  are  no  more ; 
The  deep  unbosom'd,  with  tremendous  gloom 
Yawns  on  the  ruin,  like  Creation's  tomb ! 

And  lo !  the  living  harvest  of  the  Earth, 
Reap'd  from  the  grave  to  share  a  second  birth ; 
Millions  of  eyes,  with  one  deep  dreadful  stare, 
Gaze  upward  through  the  burning  realms  of  air ; 
While  shapes,  and  shrouds,  and  ghastly  features  gleani 
Like  lurid  snow-flakes  in  the  moonlight  beam. 

Upon  the  flaming  Earth  one  farewell  glance ; 
The  billows  of  Eternity  advance  ; 
No  motion,  blast,  or  breeze,  or  waking  sound  ! 
In  fiery  slumber  glares  the  world  around ! 


III.]  OF   THE    DEITY.  113 

"Tls  o'er ;  from  yonder  cloven  vault  of  heaven, 
Throned  on  a  car  by  living  thunder  driven, 
Array'd  in  glory,  see  !  th'  Eternal  come  ; 
And,  while  the  Universe  is  still  and  dumb, 
And  hell  o'ershadow'd  with  terrific  gloom, 
T'  immortal  myriads  deal  the  judgment  doom ! 
Wing'd  on  the  wind,  and  warbling  hymns  of  love, 
Behold !  the  blessed  soar  to  realms  above  ; 
The  curs'd,  with  hell  uncover'd  to  their  eye, 
Shriek — shriek,  and  vanish  in  a  whirlwind  cry  ! 
Creation  shudders  with  sublime  dismay, 
And  in  a  blazing  tempest  whirls  away  ! 


NOTES. 


NOTES. 


Note  1.  p.  34. 

**  How  soon  the  cloistered  stillness  of  the  spot." 

In  Mr.  Charles  Butler's  Life  of  De  Ranee',  there  is  a  pas- 
sage which  may  be  quoted  as  illustrative  of  that  feeling  of 
awe  inspired  by  a  venerable  ruin.  Speaking  of  the  Abbey 
<le  la  Trappe,  he  writes — "  All  travellers  who  have  given  a 
description  of  it,  agree,  that  the  monastery  and  its  environs 
present  a  scene,  which  even  the  strongest  mind  cannot  view 
without  a  sentiment  of  awe.  At  a  small  distance  from  the 
monastery  a  dark  forest  encircles  it  on  every  side,  and  eleven 
lakes,  the  water  of  which  is  always  of  a  dismal  hue,  and 
always  stagnant,  form  round  it,  in  two  circles,  a  double 
moat.  The  solemn  stillness ,  of  the  scenery  completes  its 
horror." 


1 1 8  NOTES. 

Note  2.  p.  40. 

"  Expands  the  blossom  and  erects  the  tree." 
"  Glows  in  the  stars,  and  blossoms  in  $fe  trees — 
Lives  through  all  life — extends,  through  all  extent — 
Spreads  undivided — op^tes  unspent." — POPE. 

Note  3.  p.  72. 

"  Soft  steal  thy  bells  upon  the  pensive  mind" 
It  is  pleasing  to  find  that  the  most  wildly-tempered  minds 

can  at  limes  be  tranquillized  into  a  holy  state  of  feeling-  by  / 

••'    ^ 
the  simple  peal  of  church  bells.     Bonaparte  is  recorded  to  / 

have  said — "  Last  Sunday  evening,  in  the  general  silence 
o£JS*tuTe,  as  I  was  walking  in  these  grounds  (of  Malmaj* 
son),  the  sound  of  the  church-bell  of  Ruel  fell'On  my  ear, 
and  renewed  all  the  impressions  of  my  youlJi-^-I  was  pro- 
foundly affected.  Such  is  the  effect  of  early  habit  and  as- 
sociations." 


Note  4.  p.  a 

"  Reared  the  red  pike,  and  butchered  for  their  pay .'" 
This  revolting  scene  ia   thus  described   by  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  in  his  Sketch  of  the  French  Revolution,  prefixed  to 


NOTES.  1 1 9 

his  Life  of  Napoleon : — "  The  outside  of  the  palace  was  still 
besieged  by  the  infuriated  mob,  who  demanded,  with  hide- 
ous cries,  and  acclamations  the  most  barbarous  and  obscene, 
the  Austrian,  as  they  called  the  Queen.  The  unfortunate 
Princess  appeared  on  her  balcony,  with  one  of  her  children 
in  each  hand.  A  voice  from  below  cried  out,  'No  chil- 
dren !'  as  if  on  purpose  to  deprive  the  mother  of  that  appeal 
to  humanity  which  might  move  the  hardest  heart.  Mario 
Antoinette,  with  a  force  of  mind  worthy  Maria  Theresa, 
her  mother,  pushed  her  children  back  into  the  room,  and 
turning  her  face  to  the  tumultuous  multitude,  which  tossed 
and  roared  beneath,  brandishing  their  pikes  and  guns  with 
the  wildest  attitudes  of  rage,  the  reviled,  persecuted,  and 
denounced  Queen  stood  before  them,  her  arms  folded  on 
her  bosom,  with  a  noble  air  of  courageous  resolution." 

Note  5.  p.  101. 
"Speaks  in  the  storm,  and  travels  on  ifie  wind." 

"  Lo  !  the  poor  Indian  whose  untutored  mind 
Sees  God  in  clouds,  and  hears  him  in  the  wind." 


POEMS. 


ACCIPE;  SEDFACILIS. 


MORNING. 


THE  Sun  is  seated  on  his  ocean  throne 

Engirdled  with  his  court  of  clouds.     Around, 

Billows  of  damask  and  of  orange  light 

Evolving  roll,  as  from  a  cauldron  heav'd ! 

While,  from  the  midst,  red  bars  of  splendour  shoot, 

Careering  fiercely  to  the  midway  skies ; 

There  cower 'd  awhile,  they  swell  to  wizard  shapes, 

Advance,  and,  like  battalions  in  array, 

Mingle  their  hues,  and  make  a  ghastly  plain 

Of  crimson  on  the  skies. 

Beneath,  the  waves 
Shiv'ring  and  gleamy  lie,  like  ruffled  scales 


124  MORNING. 

Of  liquid  steel :  and  lo !  awaking  now 

With  the  white  dews  of  slumber  on  her  breast, 

The  Earth !  all  fragrant,  fresh  in  living  green, 

And  beautiful,  as  if  this  moment  sprung 

From  out  her  Maker's  hand.     Athwart  the  trees 

A  brassy  lustre  shines ;  where  matin  beads, 

Like  drops  of  light,  have  diamonded  the  boughs  ; 

And  here  and  there,  some  crisp'd  and  glossy  stream, 

Lit  by  a  peeping  ray,  laughs  through  the  leaves. 

The  flowers  are  waking  too,  and  ope  their  eyes 
To  greet  the  prying  sun,  while  meads  and  dales, 
With  hoary  incense  steam :  and  list ! 
The  buzz  of  life !     Myriads  of  insects  now 
Creep  from  their  green-wood  caves  and  mossy  domes, 
And  wind  their  way,  to  glitter  in  the  sun ! 
And  oh !  how  merrily  the  birds  arise, 
And  tire  their  warbling  throats  in  votive  songs; 


MORNING.  125 

While  from  yon  hurdled  hills  the  sheep-bells  shake 
The  tinkling  echoes  down  the  bushy  dale. 

And  is  creation's  heir  in  sleepy  calm, 
Unmindful  of  the  morn  ?     Ah !  no  ;  its  beam 
Hath  glanced  upon  the  cottager's  clean  couch, 
And  call'd  him  up.     And  see !  the  lattice  oped, 
He  spies  along  the  landscape's  glitt'ring  view, 
And  looks  to  heaven,  and  feels  the  toying  breeze 
Upheave  his  locks ;  and  then  angelic  thoughts 
Gush  through  his  soul ;  instinctively  he  owns 
The  presence  of  a  God,  and  rends  his  heart 
To  Him,  upon  a  sigh  of  artless  love 
And  praise  because  another  day  is  born. 


NOON. 

The  Sun  hath  wax'd  into  his  noontide  wrath, 
And  'fore  his  countenance  the  Earth  lies  scorch'd, 
In  agonies  of  heat !     The  winds  are  dead  1 
The  shallow  lakes  are  film'd,  and  fetid  pools 
Bubble  upon  the  parched  grounds ;  while  flies 
And  insects,  on  the  tumours  of  hot  mud, 
Basking  and  buzzing  creep.     The  trees  stand  still 
Amid  the  air,  and  at  their  matted  trunks 
The  ploughman  lies,  his  head  upon  his  palms, 
While  'tween  the  spangled  leaves,  the  sheen  of 

heaven 
Gleams  on  him  beauteously.     The  flowers  are 

droop 'd, 

As  if  they  languish' d  for  a  breezy  draught ; 
And  e'en  the  flirting  bee,  now  honey  cloy'd, 
Is  humming  languid  on  the  rose's  brim ! 


NOON.  127 

The  world  grows  faint ;  and  all  is  stirless,  save 
Yon  sky-bird  traveling  to  the  sun  ;  and  hark  ! 
Wing-poised,  he  peers  undazzled  at  the  blaze, 
Hymning  his  heart-full  of  aerial  strains. 

Beneath  this  berried  cliff,  behold  the  sea 
Magnificently  spread  !     The  billows  pant, 
And  revel  in  the  beams  that  on  their  shoal 
Of  glassy  crests  dance  sparklingly  ;  or  wild 
Disporting  wreathe  the  ocean's  breast, 
And  gambol  to  the  shore, — like  cherub  groups 
When  on  a  glossy  meadow  bank  they  leap, 
And  roll  in  gay  contortions ! 

Far  beyond 

Behold  a  rock  majestically  rear'd  ; 
Upon  whose  brow  the  eagle  sits  at  noon, 
Rolling  his  eye-balls  at  the  blazing  sun ! 


128  NOON. 

High  on  the  yellow  beach  its  hoary  side 

Is  bared  unto  the  ocean,  and  the  breeze 

Upwafted, — like  a  tight  and  stately  sail, 

When  whitening  in  the  glow  of  heaven !     And  look  ! 

The  feath'ry  forms  of  far-off  sails  are  seen, 

Alone  upon  the  billows  ;  or  as  clouds 

Dropped  down  upon  the  deep,  and  dancing  on 

The  swell  of  waters. 


NIGHT. 

Another  day  is  added  to  the  mass 
Of  buried  ages.     Lo  !  the  beauteous  moon, 
Like  a  fair  shepherdess,  now  comes  abroad, 
With  her  full  flock  of  stars,  that  roam  around 


NIGHT.  1 29 

The  azure  meads  of  heaven.     And,  oh  !  how  charm'd 
Beneath  her  loveliness,  creation  looks  ; 
Far-gleaming  hills,  and  light-inweaving  streams, 
And  sleeping  boughs  with  dewy  lustre  clothed, 
And  green-hair'd  valleys, — all  in  glory  dress'd, 
Make  up  the  pageantries  of  Night.     One  glance 
Upon  old  Ocean,  where,  the  woven  beams 
Have  braided  her  dark  waves.    Their  roar  is  hush'd ; 
Her  billowy  wings  are  folded  up  to  rest ; 
Till  once  again  the  wizard  winds  shall  yell, 
And  tear  them  into  strife. 

A  lone  owl's  hoot — 

The  waterfall's  faint  drip, — or  insect  stir 
Among  the  emerald  leaves, — or  infant  wind 
Rifling  the  pearly  lips  of  sleeping  flowers, — 
Alone  disturb  the  stillness  of  the  scene. 


1 30  NIGHT. 

Spirit  of  All !  as  up  yon  star-hung  deep 
Of  air,  the  eye  and  heart  together  mount, 
Man's  immortality  within  him  stirs, 
And  Thou  art  all  around  !     Thy  beauty  walks 
In  airy  music  o'er  the  midnight  heavens  ; 
Thy  glory's  shadow'd  on  the  slumb'ring  world. 


MARIUS*. 


UPON  the  silent  shore  great  Marius  sat, 

Deserted  and  alone :  his  harass' d  eye 

Cast  sullenly  athwart  the  crested  waves ; 

Where  rode  the  traitor's  bark.     How  fallen  now, 

Since  that  proud  day  when  triumph  fired  his  eye, 

And  Rome  beheld  her  val'rous  saviour  there ! 

His  thoughts  went  back  to  brighter  days.    He  thought 

Of  that  high  morn,  when,  fronting  Scipio's  view, 

With  firm-paced  step,  and  uuretreating  arm, 

*  See  Plutarch's  Life  of  Marius. 


132  MARITJS. 

He  dash'd  the  foe,  and  dragg'd  liim  in  the  dust ! 
Of  Rome's  acclaim,  when,  throned  upon  his  car, 
Jugurtha's  fetters  clanking  on  his  ear, — 
He  moved  triumphant,  'mid  the  banner 'd  throng 
That  haiPd  his  Afrique  conquests !     Prouder  still 
His  mem'ry  hover'd  round  the  laurell'd  pile 
Heap'd  from  the  spoil'd  Ambrones  ; — torch  in  hand, 
And  purple  clad,  as  vet'rans  round  him  stood, 
He  waved  and  whirlM  the  blazing  light  to  heaven, 
While  shields,  and  clashing  spears,  rang  martial  joy ! 
He  thought  of  these,  and  then  Despair  awoke, 
And  delv'd  a  frown  upon  his  war-worn  brow, 
That  bent  with  recollections. 

Thus  Marius  sat,  and  mused  before  the  sea, 
Till,  bursting,  from  his  shroud  of  grief  and  thought, 
O'er  bogs  and  wilds,  dejectedly  he  roftm'd 
To  shelter  from  his  foes.     Unto  the  fens, 


MARIUS.  133 

Where  deaden'd  waters  gleam'd,  and  rank  reeds  grew, 
With  wild  and  weary  step,  the  wand'rer  came ; 
And  found  compassion  in  a  cotter's  hut : 
Rous'd  thence,  he  couch'd  within  a  narrow  cave, 
Beside  the  river ;  there  was  Marius  ta'en, 
And  naked  dragg'd  unto  Minturnae's  walls. 

Within  a  cell,  whose  dungeon  wall  shed  round 
A  dreadful  gloom,  the  imprison'd  warrior  lay  ; 
Dark,  fierce,  and  frowning — dubious  of  his  fate, 
Like  a  chain 'd  eagle  glaring  at  the  skies  ! 
The  door  burst  open,  and  with  clatt'ring  teeth, 
And  hand  that  trembled  with  a  dizzy  flame, 
Stalk'd  in  a  savage  Gaul  ;  but  ere  he  sheath'd 
His  gleaming  dagger  in  the  Roman's  breast, 
From  his  fierce  eye  there  flash' d  a  living  flame, 
Like  lightning  from  a  cloud !     Th'  assassin  shook, 

And  reePd,  and  shrunk  affrighted  from  those  eyes, 
M 


134  MARITJS. 

Whose  flashes  fell,  like  phantom  darts  of  fire, 
Upon  his  coward  face.     Then  Marius  rose, 
And  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  dread  and  deep, 
Cried,—"  Dar'st  thou  do  the  deed  ?" 


STANZAS  FOR  MUSIC. 


OH  !  Beauty  is  the  master-charm, 

The  syren  of  the  soul ; 
Whose  magic  zone  encompasseth 

Creation  with  control : 
The  foster-flame  of  every  mind, 
And  love  and  light  of  human  kind. 

'Twas  Beauty  hung  the  blue-robed  heavens  ; 

She  glitters  in  each  star, 
Or  trippeth  on  the  twilight  breeze, 

In  melody  afar : 

She  danceth  on  the  dimpled  stream, 
And  gambols  in  the  ripple's  gleam. 


136  STANZAS    FOR    MUSIC. 

She  couches  on  the  coral  wave, 

And  garlandeth  the  sea  ; 
And  weaves  a  music  in  the  wind 

That  murmurs  from  the  lea ; 
She  paints  the  clouds,  and  points  the  ray, 
And  basketh  in  the  blush  of  day. 

She  sits  among  the  spangled  trees, 

And  streaks  the  bud  and  flower  ; 

She  dims  the  air,  and  drops  the  dew 
Upon  the  moonlight  bower : 

'Tis  she  un wreaths  the  wings  of  Night, 

And  cradles  Nature  in  delight. 

And  woman  ! — Beauty  was  the  power 
That,  with  angelic  grace, 

Breath'd  love  around  her  glowing  form, 
And  magic  in  her  face  ; 


STANZAS    FOR   MUSIC.  137 

She  crisp'd  the  silky-flashing  hair, 
And  on  her  brow — her  throne  is  there  ! 

She  arm'd  her  liquid-rolling  eye 

With  fairy  darts  of  fire  ; 
She  wreath'd  the  lip  of  luscious  hue, 

And  bade  its  breath  inspire ! 
She  shaped  her  for  her  queenly  shrine, 
And  made  her  like  herself — divine ! 

Oh !  Beauty  is  the  master-charm, 

The  syren  of  the  soul ; 
Whese  magic  zone  encompasseth 

Creation  with  control ! 
The  foster-flame  of  every  mind, 
And  love  and  light  of  human  kind* 


STARLIGHT  ON  MARATHON. 


No  vesper  breeze  is  floating  now, 
No  murmurs  shake  the  air ; 

A  gloom  hath  veil'd  the  mountain's  brow, 
And  quietude  is  there  ; 

The  night-beads  on  the  dew-white  grass 

Drop  brilliant  as  my  footsteps  pass. 

No  hum  of  life  disturbs  the  scene, 
The  clouds  are  roll'd  to  rest ; 

'Tis  like  a  calm  where  grief  hath  been, 
So  welcome  to  the  breast ! 

The  warring  tones  of  day  have  gone, 

And  starlight  gleams  on  Marathon. 


It  •<*  T*  """i  £i '  Y  TO 

STARLIGHT    ON    MARATO^N^  139 

V  /?    ^    \*v 

I  look  around  from  earth  to  sky,  ^^Xj  i  JF01B«^ 

And  gaze  from  star  to  star  ; 
Till  Grecian  hosts  seem  gliding  by, 

Triumphant  from  the  war  : 
Like  sleepless  spirits  from  the  dead 
Revisiting  where  once  they  bled. 

V 

What,  though  the  mounds  that  mark'd  each  name. 

Beneath  the  wings  of  Time 
Have  worn  away, — theirs  is  the  fame, 

Immortal  and  sublime ; 
For  who  can  tread  on  Freedom's  plain, 
Nor  wake  her  dead  to  life  again  ? 

Oh !  to  have  seen  the  marching  bands, 

And  heard  the  battle-clash, 
Have  seen  their  weapon-clenching  hands, 

And  eyes'  defiant  flash, — 


140  STARLIGHT    ON   MARATHON. 

Their  radiant  shields  and  dancing  crests, 
And  corslets  on  their  swelling  breasts. 

Then  said  the  mother  to  her  son, 

And  pointed  to  his  shield, 
"  Come  with  it  when  the  battle's  done, 

Or  on  it—from  the  field  !" 
Then  mute  she  glanced  her  fierce-bright  eye, 
That  spoke  of  ages  vanished  by. 

Twas  here  they  fought :  and  martial  peals 
Once  thunder'd  o'er  the  ground, 

And  gash  and  wound  from  plunging  steels 
Bedew'd  the  battle  mound  ; 

Here  Grecians  trod  the  Persian  dead, 

And  Freedom  shouted  while  she  bled ! 


STARLIGHT    ON   MARATHON.  141 

But  gone  the  day  of  Freedom's  sword, 

And  cold  the  patriot  brave, 
Who  mow'd  the  dastard-minded  horde 

Unto  a  gory  grave  ; 
While  Greece  arose  sublimely  free, 
And  dauntless  as  her  own  dark  sea. 

Still,  Starlight  sheds  the  same  pale  beam 

For  aye  upon  the  plain  ; 
And  musing  breasts  might  fondly  dream 

The  Grecian  free  again  ; 
For  empires  fall,  and  Freedom  dies, 
But  dimless  beauty  robes  the  skies. 

May  He  whose  glory  gems  the  sky, 
God  of  the  slave  and  free  ! 


142  STARLIGHT    AT    MARATHON. 

Hear  every  patriot's  burning  sigh 

That's  offered  here  for  thee  ; 
For  thee,  sad  Greece  !  and  every  son 
That  braves  a  Turk  on  Marathon. 


STANZAS. 


O !  REST  thee  in  thy  green-turf  grave, 
There  is  no  sorrow  there  ; 

For  tomb'd  within,  the  wretched  have 
A  fredom  from  despair. 

No  more  shall  come  the  hour  of  woe, 
Nor  Hope's  delusive  light ; 

Untroubled  is  thy  sleep  below, 
Upon  the  bed  of  night. 

The  dews  of  anguish  damp'd  thy  brow, 
Thine  was  the  wither 'd  heart 

No  stormy  woes  can  scare  thee  now, 
So  dreamless  as  thou  art! 


STANZAS. 

Then  rest  thee  in  thy  desert  tomb, 

Beneath  the  dewy  sod ; 
Till  Mercy  shall  unshroud  the  gloom, 

And  summon  thee  to  God. 


(LESAR  ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE 
RUBICON. 


AMID  the  roar  of  revelry 

Within  th'  Alesian  dome, 
He  moved,  with  glad,  but  musing  eye, — 

The  vanquisher  of  Rome! 
His  spirit  mingled  with  the  gay, 
And  fcflash'd  the  gloom  of  war  away. 

And  there  he  joyed,  till  darkling  Night 
Threw  round  her  dewy  veil, 

And  mist  wreath'd  round  each  Alpine  height 
That  beetled  o'er  the  dale  ; 

Then  Caesar  rose,  his  bosom  fraught 

With  incommunicable  thought. 


146  C.ESAR    ON    THE 

And  swiftly  sped  the  hero  on, 

Along  his  shadowy  road ; 
And  reach'd  where  rolPd  the  Rubicon, 

That  from  the  mountains  flow'd  ; 
And  there  his  giant  thought's  control 
Chain'd  down  a  dauntless  Caesar's  soul. 

Before  him  heav'd  the  river-bound 
Between  great  Rome  and  Gaul ; 

If  cross' d — what  trumpet-clangs  would  sound  ; 
How  many  a  foeman  fall ! 

The  vision'd  Future,  wild  with  woes, 

Before  him,  like  a  spectre  rose. 

He  mused  on  battle,  war,  and  blood, 

On  plunder'd  cities'  storm  ; 
The  ready  daggers  of  the  good 

Against  a  tyrant's  form  ; 


BANKS    OF    THE    RUBICON.  147 

On  all  the  mountain-perils  thrown 
'Tween  Rome  and  triumph, — for  his  own  ! 

Of  what  the  unborn  Times  would  say, 

At  Rubicon's  grand  name, 
Of  him  who  track'd  with  blood  his  way, 

And  with  it  built  his  fame ; 
Would  he  not  seem  a  demon  then, 
Who  ravish' d  all  the  rights  of  men  ? 

And  thus  the  mighty  Caesar  stood, 

And  battled  with  his  mind  ; 
Then  gazed  upon  the  fatal  flood, 

And  dash'd  his  doubts  behind ! 
Like  a  bent  bow,  his  pride  return'd, 
And  all  the  Roman  in  him  burn'd. 


148  C;ESAR  AND  THE  RUBICON. 

"The  die  is  cast'. — the  die  is  cast !" 

With  reckless  fire  he  cried  ; 
Then  swift  the  Rubicon  he  pass'd, 

And  reach' d  the  Roman  side ; 
Ere  day  had  dawn'd  he  drew  the  sword, 
And  Ariminum  haiPd  him  lord. 


STANZAS. 


WHO  hath  not  watch' d  the  heaven  of  eve, 
When  round  the  horizon  seems  to  weave 
A  sea  of  clouds,  whose  bosoms  heave 

In  floating  beauty  there  ? 

Those  lovely  phantoms,  how  they  glide 
In  all  their  calm  and  airy  pride, 
Moved  by  the  breath  of  eventide, 

Along  the  dew-lipp'd  flowers ! 

Some,  crimson-wove,  voluptuous  sail, 
Some  girdled  with  a  ruby  veil, 
And  others,  beaming  brightly-pale, 

As  beauty's  radiant  brow. 


1 50  STANZAS. 

I 

And  so  smiles  now  this  rose- wreath' d  room. 
Where  float  along  in  braid  and  plume, 
All  blushing  with  their  virgin  bloom, 

The  maidens  of  the  night. 

Lo  !  yonder  trips  a  blue-eyed  troop, 
Who  bend  their  glowing  heads,  and  droop, 
As  graceful  as  a  lily  group 

All  languid  with  perfume  I 

And  near  them  glides  a  gentle  pair, 
That  dance  their  grape-like  clustering  hair, 
As  if  their  very  ringlets  were 

Communing  with  their  joy. 

On  each  fair  cheek  the  life-blush  warms, 
While  tincturM  with  their  Phapian  charms, 


STANZAS.  151 

The  maidens  twine  their  ivory  arms, 

And  circle  through  the  dance. 

Like  moon-gleams  shivering  on  the  lake, 
Their  feet  with  dizzy  motion  shake, 
As  down  the  dance  their  steps  they  take, 

With  love-beams  in  their  eye. 

Then,  why,  amid  this  heaven  of  joy, 
Should  dreams  of  darkening  woe  annoy, 
Or  thoughts  of  deathful  gloom  destroy 

The  elysium  of  the  hour  ? 

Alas !  the  scene  will  swiftly  fade, 
The  music  cease,  depart  the  maid, 
And  cold-eyed  Day  .the  room  invade, 

With  uncongenial  smile  : 


1 52  STANZAS. 

Some  hearts  will  pine,  and  some  will  weep, 
And  many  in  the  grave  will  sleep, 
And  every  eye  shall  sorrow  steep, 

Ere  we  unite  again. 

Yes  !  many  a  shape  of  love  and  light, 
Whose  eyes  are  glittering  with  delight, 
Like  starry  dreams  that  visit  night, 

Shall  wither  into  clay ! 


THE  DEATH  OF  CORINNE. 

ALL  pale,  and  pillow'd  on  a  chair,  she  lay, — 

The  beautiful,  the  passionate  Corinne  ! 

The  beamy  language  of  her  eyes  no  more 

Darted  around  such  eloquence  of  soul, 

As  when,  amid  the  crowd,  her  feelings  flash'd 

From  out  their  burning  balls  ;  while  she  herself 

Was  living  poetry  !  Deep  pensiveness, 

And  intense  looks,  that  tell  the  blighted  heart, 

EffusM  a  dreamy  languor  round  her  form. 

Ere  yet  her  spirit  breath'd  itself  to  heaven, 
She  sat,  to  gaze  upon  the  shrouded  Moon, 
Riding  the  mellow  skies  :  Athwart  her  face 
Floated  that  fatal  cloud  ;  the  same  she  saw 


154  THE    DEATH    OF    CORINNE. 

When  Melville  woo'd  her  by  the  winding  shore  : 
On  him,  enamour 'd  kneeling  at  her  feet, 
She  look'd,  and  in  one  look  condens'd 
The  buried  anguish  of  a  broken  heart ; 
Her  white  lips  feebly  parted,  then  re-clos'd 
For  ever !   Gazing  then  upon  the  sky, 
She  faintly  beckon'd  to  the  gleaming  moon, 
While  down  her  neck  her  streamy  ringlets  fell, 
Like  dropping  sunbeams  on  a  pallid  cloud  t 

And  now  a  change  came  on  ;  the  blood  sunk  back 
Beneath  her  radiant  cheek,  her  eye-lids  mov'd 
Like  melting  snow-flakes  from  the  noon-tide  glow, 
And  all  her  beauty  quite  empyreal  turn'd, 
As  if  refining,  ere  it  went  to  heaven  ; 
Her  hand  fell  downward  with  her  farewell  sigh — 
Her  spirit  had  departed  t 


THE  PAINS  OF  GENIUS. 


ENVY  not  the  Poet's  name, 
Darken  not  his  dawn  of  fame  ; 
'Tis  the  guerdon  of  a  mind 
'Bove  the  thralls  of  earthly  kind  ; 
'Tis  the  haven  for  a  soul 
Where  the  storms  of  genius  roll ; 
It  often  lights  him  to  his  doom, 
A  halo  round  an  early  tomb ! 

The  whirling  brain,  and  heated  brow, 
Ideas  thaMorture  while  they  grow  ; 
The  soaring  fancy  over-fraught, 
The  burning  agonies  of  thought  j 


156  THE    PAINS    OF    GENIUS. 

The  sleepless  eye  and  racking  head, 

The  airy  terrors  round  him  spread  t~ 

Or  freezing  smile  of  Apathy, 

Or  scowl  of  green-eyed  Jealousy  ; 

Or  haggard  Want,  whose  lean  hands  wave 

Unto  a  cold  uncovered  grave  ; 

Oh  !  these  must  win  a  Poet's  name, 

Then,  darken  not  his  dawn  of  fame. 


THE  TRANCE. 

(A  FRAGMENT.) 

<— — I  TOOK  one  faint  and  lingering  look, 
And  then,  all  vanish'd  in  the  sickly  light 
That  swam  around  the  bed ;  all  seem'd  to  melt 
To  shadowy  indistinctness — like  far  hills 
From  those  who  ride  upon  the  ocean's  waves : 
A  dreamy  giddiness  dissolv'd  my  brain  ; 
Mine  eye-balls  sunk,  and  coldly  press'd  like  lead  ; 
While  creeping  chills  bedew'd  my  pallid  form, 
That  flinch'd,  as  if  it  shudder'd  at  itself, 
Or  would  condense,  like  water  ere  it  freeze ! 
My  life-fount  curdled  into  clotted  blood, 
Then,  cold  and  nerveless  lay  each  marbled  limb, 
And  dotted  with  the  mystic  dews  of  death. 


158  THE    TRANCE. 

Sightless,  and  breathless,  thus  entranc'd  I  lay ; 
Though  motionless,  with  feeling  so  acute, 
As  if  it  doubled,  to  make  up  for  sight : 
And  like  a  solitary  cloud,  I  seem'd 
Self-balanc'd  in  a  universe  of  gloom. 

And,  oh !  how  sad  it  was  to  hear  and  feel 
Fond  friends  around  me,  dreaming  death  had  shut 
All  sense  of  life  ;  to  feel  their  living  lips 
Impressed  upon  my  gelid  ones  ;  to  hear 
Their  heart-swell'd  groans,  and  choking  sobs  and  sighs, 
While  gazing  on  my  bloodless  form. 

Oft  too, 

When  midnight  bells  had  toll'd  the  world  to  sleep, 
A  young,  but  unforgetting  sister,  came 
To  meditate,  and  sorrow  o'er  my  doom  : 
I  kenn'd  her  feathVy  steps,  as  on  they  stole, 


THE    TRANCE.  159 

Like  twilight  o'er  the  flowers.     And  when  she  took 

My  stony  fingers  in  her  life-warm  hand, 

And    kiss'd  my  smooth-strain'' d    brow,    and   tahVd  so 

sweet, 

And  lisp'd  her  mournful  love, — how  horrible, 
That  language  could  not  ease  the  burden' d  mind ! 

Two  days  departed  ;  then  the  flaky  shroud 
Enwrapp'd  rne  in  its  folds,  that  rustled  round, 
Like  rumpled  waters  :  last,  the  coffin  came, 
And  well  I  knew,  as  with  a  solemn  step 
And  trembling  hand,  they  stretch'd  my  deadlike  frame, 
Enveloped  in  its  fun'ral  vest.     More  drear 
Than  all,  was  that  long,  sad,  and  silent  hour, 
When,  one  by  one,  the  speechless  mourners  took 
Their  last  and  ling'ring  glance ;  I  felt  their  sighs, 
And  tears  that  burn'd  my  cheek — but  I  was  still ! 


160  THE    TRANCE. 

Arid,  oh  !  most  horrible  ? — I  heard  the  screw* 
Crush  through  the  wood,  and  seal  my  coffin-lid  ; 
And  then  the  rattling  hearse,  the  grave-side  prayers, 
The  thick  and  careless  clods  that  patter'd  down 
Upon  my  bier,  till  bedded  with  the  dust ; 
And  then 


VIVE  L'EMPEREUR*! 


BY  WilicPs  banks  the  rushing  river  swept 
Like  a  careering  whirlwind  ;  white  with  foam, 
And  plunging  on  in  many  a  gurgled  roar 
Of  furious  rage.     So  fiercely  flies  the  steed, 
Unnianacled,  that  with  his  upshot  ears, 

*  The  river  Wilid  being  swollen  with  rain,  and  the  bridges 
destroyed,  the  emperor  (Napoleon)  commanded  a  body  of 
Polish  cavalry  to  cross  by  swimming :  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  dash  into  the  river ;  but  ere  they  reached  the  middle  of 
the  stream,  an  irresistible  torrent  broke  their  ranks,  and 
they  were  lost  almost  to  a  man,  before  the  eyes  of  Napoleon, 
to  whom  some  of  them,  in  the  last  struggle,  turned  their  faces, 
exclaiming,  "  VIVE  L'EMPEREUR  !" — Sir  WALTER  SCOTT'S 

Life  of  Napoleon. 

o  2 


162  VIVE  L'EMPEREUR. 

And  limbs  vein-swelling  with  their  wrathful  glow, 

Undaunted  gallops  over  hill  and  dale, 

His  mane  dishevell'd,  and  his  eyes  on  fire. 

Each  massy  bridge  was  ruin'd,  and  afar 

The  giddy  wrecks  were  battling  with  the  flood, 

Till  whirl'd  below.     'Twas  then  Napoleon  came 

With  his  embattled  hosts.     That  wondrous  man, 

Whose  daring  spirit,  with  volcanic  rage, 

Breathed  flame  and  ruin  on  the  affrighted  world ; 

His  eye  could  span  the  universe !  His  soul 

Had  fire  enough  to  vanquish  all !  In  vain 

Wild  Nature  barr'd  his  progress  with  her  piles 

Tiared  by  the  clouds  ;  in  vain  the  rocks 

Uprear'd  their  ice-hair'd  heads  to  block  his  path, 

Or  hurl'd  their  torrents  at  him  !  With  a  glance, 

Fierce  as  the  eagle's,  when  his  piercing  eye 

Gleams  through  the  darkening  air, — he  look'd  beyond 

Them  all :  Nature  and  he  were  giants  twin, 


VIVE  L'EMPEREUR.  163 

And  her  impediments  but  forc'd  the  flames 
Of  genius  from  his  soul;  as  thunder-clouds, 
Together  clash' d,  dart  forth  their  lightning  gleams. 

Upon  the  howling  flood  he  cast  a  glance* 
Such  as  the  tiger  darts,  ere  on  his  prey 
He  springs,  to  gnash  it  in  his  rav'nous  fangs  ; 
Then  fiercely  cried, — "  On!   on!   my  valiant  Poles!" 
They  answer'd  not !  but  with  a  clanging  stir 
Goaded  their  pawing  battle-steeds,  and  plunged 
Amid  the  torrent's  rush.     Like  loosenM  crags 
Down  dashing  on  the  sea,  the  warriors  sank, 
Emburied  in  the  stream  •  then  buoy'd  again, 
And  panting,  cleavM  their  roaring  track.     Beneath 
Their  gallant  burdens,  bravely  paw'd  the  steeds, 
With  blowing  nostrils,  and  red-rolling  eyes, 
And  many  a  furious  snort :  against  their  breasts 
The  cloven  waters  foam'd,  and  flaslrd  behind 


164  VIVE  L'EMPEREUR. 

Their  darting  hoofs  ;  and  roar'd,  and  rag- d  around 

The  dripping  ranks,  like  a  disturbed  den 

Of  lions  in  the  wood  :  but  vain  the  rush  ; 

Midway  the  maddening  torrent  overwhelm'd 

The  struggling  files  ;  like  a  tremendous  blast 

Among  autumnal  leaves,  it  scatter'd  all ! 

Rank  after  rank  was  buried  in  the  flood, 

Upon  their  panting  steeds  ;  while  round  their  sinking 

heads 

The  waters  yell'd,  as  victors  o'er  their  foes ; 
But  in  that  gasp — while  yet  their  spirits  hung 
'Tween  life  and  death,  as  feathers  in  the  air — 
They  turri'd  their  heads,  and  with  triumphant  shrieks 
Of  valour,  wildly  sounded, — "  VIVE  L'EMPEREUR  !" 

He  heard  their  death-cries  rolling  on  the  blast, 
And,  as  a  lake,  just  rippled  into  life, 
His  features  fluttered  with  terrific  throes 


VIVE  L'EMPEREUR.  165 

Of  agony  ;  and  then,  he  gnash' d  his  teeth, 
And  dug  his  nails  into  his  palms,  and  heav'd 
His  breast,  and  glanced  his  eyes,  and  groan'd  for 
words  I 


A  DAUGHTER'S  APOSTROPHE  TO  A 
DEPARTED  MOTHER. 


IF  gentle  spirits,  wing'd  away 
To  their  seraphic  sphere, 

May  hear  Affection  fondly  pray, 
Or  mark  a  mourner's  tear  ; 

Pure  spirit!  floating  realms  of  love, 
Beyond  this  earthly  wild, 

Shed  down  sweet  influence  from  above, 
To  bless  thine  orphan  child. 

As  oft  at  pensive  eve  I  roam, 

Thine  image  visits  me  ; 
While  Fancy  paints  the  happy  home, 

Once  so  adorned  by  thee. 


TO    A    DEPARTED    MOTHER,  167 

The  smile  that  rambled  o'er  thy  cheek, 

And  shamed  the  pang  of  art; 
The  mellow  tones  I  heard  thee  speak, 

Still  linger  round  my  heart  I 

That  glowing  welcome  of  thine  eye, 

The  fondness  in  thy  fear  ; 
The  meek-borne  anguish  in  thy  sigh, 

The  pity  in  thy  tear  ; 

The  mild  reluctance  in  that  frown 

That  won  me  ere  it  changed  ; 
The  glance  that  charnvd  my  spirit  down, 

When  giddily  it  ranged  ; 

Those  lips  that  lulPd  each  maiden  woe, 
And  bade  the  smile  to  play  ; 


168  TO    A    DEPARTED    MOTHER. 

Nor  left  the  burning  tears  to  flow, 
But  kiss'd  them  all  away  : 

Yes  !  these,  and  all  thy  sweeter  love, 
Shed  round  my  childhood's  hour, 

Oft  bear  me  to  yon  home  above, — 
To  thine  Elysian  bower. 

Oh  !  if  thou  hear  my  orphan  prayer, 
And  faithful  fondness  see  ; 

Thou  know'st  I  sigh  to  enter  there, 
And  be  at  rest  with  thee ! 


THE  DREADFUL  PRAYER.* 


No  priestly  prayer,  avail'd :  gaunt  Famine  stalk'd 
Through  Cairo's  streets  by  day  and  night,  and  suck'd 
The  life-blood  from  her  hungry  thousands  there  ; 
From  wall  to  wall,  from  house  to  house,  were  heard 
The  gasping  yells  of  famish'd  men,  and  wails 
Of  mothers,  with  dead  infants  at  their  breasts, 
Whose  baked  lips,  and  eyelids  curling  up 
Like  wither'd  violet  leaves,  and  fleshless  hands, 
Were  blasted  by  the  pest  of  Famine's  touch. 
Some  gnaw'd  their  nails  in  agony ;  some  groan'd, 
And  work'd  their  eye-balls  with  a  horrid  glare, 
Rooted  their  tresses,  and  expired !   And  here, 

*  See  Anastasius,  vol.  ii.  p.  101. 
p 


170  THE  DREADFUL  PRAYER. 

Pale  groups,  with  bony  cheek  and  beamless  stare, 
Did  stagger  out,  and  choke  themselves  with  cries 
For  death !  while  others,  'neath  funereal  palls, 
Moved  slowly  on,  like  sable  thunder-clouds, 
Then  sat,  and  howl'd  upon  the  new-dug  graves ! 
So  deadlike  look'd  the  bloodless  shapes  around, 
That  Cairo  seemed  a  charnel-house  revived, 
Whose  dregs  were  crawling  into  life  again  I 

In  vain  the  priests  exhaled  their  souls  to  heaven 
In  agonizing  prayers  ;  no  Mercy  smiled 
An  answer  to  their  vows.    Still  Famine  swept 
Her  thousands  into  dust ;  still  every  wind 
Wing'd  to  the  skies  the  bowlings  of  despair. 
At  length  unspotted  babes,  whose  milk-white  robes 
Gleam'd  pure  as  dove-wings  in  the  radiant  air, 
By  Imans  led,  climb'd  up  the  min'ret  spires, 
To  sue  a  pestilence, — the  famine's  cure : 


THE  DREADFUL  PRAYER.  171 

There,  on  the  gilded  peaks,  their  hands  were  raised, 
In  adoration  clasp'd,  as  if  instinct  with  prayer  ; 
And  while  their  cherub  mouths  in  lisping  tones 
Besought  the  plague,  the  pale-eyed  crowd  below, 
Stirr'd  like  a  waking  wind  upon  the  deep, 
Moved  their  lean  lips,  and  mutter'd — "  Let  it  be!" 

Heaven  heard  the  prayer :  a  Pestilence  came  down, 
And  made  an  atmosphere  of  death !  Men  dropp'd 
Into  corruption  thick  as  wintry  blights 
Upon  the  blacken'd  bushes.     Hill  and  dale, 
Hamlet  and  city,  groan'd  with  ghastly  piles 
Of  green-eyed  dead :  the  houses  turned  to  tombs, 
And  they  who  roam'd  the  desert's  dewless  wilds 
Were  plague-smit  by  the  way,  and  moulder 'd  there, 
Like  scathed  branches  from  a  forest  tree : 
And  thus  was  Cairo  curs'd,  till  by  the  dead 
The  plague  itself  corrupted,  died  away. 


THE  CRUCIFIXION. 


STAR  of  the  East !  Thou  God  and  Man  immixt 
Thou  that  didst  dwell  in  thine  Elysian  bowers 
Of  sempiternal  light,  before  the  world 
RolPd  fresh  and  glitt'ring  from  Almighty  hands ! — 
The  fire- wing' d  choristers  who  harp  on  high, 
Alone  can  sing  the  sorrows  of  Thy  love ; 
Of  love,  that  snatch'd  a  universe  from  hell, 
And  burst  the  starry  gates  of  heaven  ! 

Lo  !  in  yon  pillar 'd  hall,  amid  the  hum 
Of  fierce- tongued  soldiers,  see  the  Saviour  stand, 
All  quiv'ring  from  the  scourge  :  around  they  ramp, 
And  tear  His  lowly  dress  with  tiger  hands, 
Then  robe  him  in  an  azure  vest,  and  crown 


THE    CRUCIFIXION.  173 

His  Godlike  temples  with  entwined  thorns  ; 
And  last,  as  from  His  pierc'd  and  flesh-torn  brow 
The  heavy  blood-drops  ooze,  with  impious  jeer 
They  place  the  sceptre  reed  within  His  hand,' 
And  kneel  and  bow,  and  smite  His  awful  head, 
And  spit  upon  His  grief-worn  face, — and  cry, 
44 HAIL,  MONARCH  OF  THE  JEWS  !" 

That  mock'ry's  o'er ! 
And  now,  to  crucifixion  see  Him  led, — 
His  cross  in  front  by  some  Cyrenian  borne. 
O,  never  yet  was  such  an  altar  rear'd  ! 
O,  never  yet  was  such  an  offering  slain  ! 
His  agony  is  dumb  ;  they  scoff,  and  taunt, 
And  grind  their  murd'rous  teeth, — but  not  a  throe 
Of  wrath  can  wrinkle  His  celestial  calm ! 
Forgiveness  is  His  prayer !     The  undying  souls 
Of  those  long  swallow'd  in  the  eternal  gulph — 


174  THE    CRUCIFIXION. 

And  they  that  are,  and  they  that  shall  be  born 
To  battle  with  the  flesh, — the  throne  of  God, 
And  all  the  bright-wing'd  choirs,  whose  harps  shall 

sound 
"SALVATION!"  through  the  star-roof  d  halls  of 

heaven, 

To  welcome  back  the  Heir  of  Glory, — these 
Are  playing  round  His  heart ;  and  deadly  pangs 
Force  no  resentful  frown. 

At  Golgotha 

Behold  the  blessed  Christ !     Upon  the  cross, 
Upon  the  cross,  His  holy  limbs  are  stretch  M ! 
And  every  nerve  and  vein  is  rack'd  and  wrench'd, 
In  agonies  unspeakable  ! — and  look  ! 
Where  through  His  palms  the  hammer'd  nails  have 

pierced, 
And  through  His  bare  and  unresisting  feet, 


THE    CRUCIFIXION.  175 

The  red  wounds  gape  and  spout !      Stupendous 

scene 

Of  awful  pain ! — the  martyr 'd  SON  OF  Gop, 
Uprear'd  upon  the  Cross,  to  save  the  world ! 
Approach !  and  gaze !  and  wonder  till  ye  weep  I—- 
Convulsive lines  of  torture  grave  his  face, 
And  flutter  o'er  His  breast ! — The  veins  unroll 
In  loose  and  languid  stretch,  and  from  his  brow 
The  lukewarm  life-stream  trickles  slowly  down, 
And  clots  beneath  his  feet !     His  head  is  bent 
Blood-matted  o'er  His  shoulder,  while  His  eyes, 
Dim-grown  and  hollow  with  the  rack,  look  meek 
Upon  His  butchers  round  the  cross,  who  howl, 
And  o'er  His  quartered  garment  cast  their  lots. 

And,  lo !  with  eye  upturn'd  in  voiceless  woe, 
His  virgin  mother ! — all  a  mother's  pangs 


176  THE-   CRUCIFIXION. 

Of  pity  for  her  tortured  son  upheave 

Her  bosom,  and  convulse  her  bloodless  cheek  I 

Nor  can  the  deadly  riot  of  His  pains 

Chill  the  warm  current  of  His  filial  love  : 

Adown,  with  tender  gaze  of  truth,  he  looks, 

And  to  the  bosom-partner  of  His  toils 

Confides  the  weeping  Mary, — to  a  son  ! 

And, — sad,  but  ignominious  sight ! — two  thieves 
In  bloody  fellowship  with  CHRIST  are  hung  : — 
One  turns  around,  with  sidelong  glance  of  scorn 
To  rail,  and  mutters  from  his  parched  throat 
A  hideous  jeer.     The  other  meek  and  faint, 
Dejected  cries,  "  O  CHRIST  !  remember  me 
When  Thou  art  in  the  palace  of  Thy  love  1" 
Divine  and  glorious  answer ! — "  Ere  the  day 
Shall  die,  in  Paradise  with  Me  thou'lt   walk." 


THE    CRUCIFIXION.  177 

But,  see,  the  Sun  hath  sunk  in  clouds  away, 
As  if  aghast !     A  pall  of  darkness  veils 
The  land  of  Palestine  ; — a  stilly  gloom 
More  dreadful  than  the  deepest  night.     The  hills 
Grow  dim  ;  the  rivers  roll,  as  if  in  wrath  ! 
And  men,  with  quailing  limbs  and  dropping  lips 
Come  forth,  and  stare,  tongue-tied,  upon  the  skies ! 
And  hark  ! — from  off  the  Cross,  is  loudly  heard 
In  piercing  tones  of  death — "  MY  GOD  !  MY  GOD  ! — 
OH,  WHY  HAST  THOU  FORSAKEN  ME  ?" — Again — 
"  MY  GOD  !  MY  GOD  !  OH  WHY  DOST  THOU  FORSAKE  !" 
'Tis  o'er  ! — the  blood-red  eye  is  film'd,  and  shut 
Within  its  socket ; — 'gainst  His  weary  breast 
The  last  heart-pulse  hath  beat ;  and  now,  behold ! 
With  waxen  limbs,  and  gore-wreath'd  locks,  and  lips 
With  sweet  compassion  printed  on  their  curve, 
The  CHRIST, — a  Sacrifice  for  lost  mankind  ! 


178  THE    CRUCIFIXION. 

O  !  never  since  the  infant  beam  of  Time 
Glanced  on  the  new-born  world,  was  such  an  hour  ! 
The  Temple's  veil  was  rent  in  awful  proof ; 
The  Sun  of  Israel  set ;  the  Eternal  curse 
Was  blotted  out  with  holy  blood ! — Earth  quaiPd 
As  though  some  Spirit  of  the  skies  had  come 
To  heave  her  huge  foundations  !    Every  rock 
And  mountain  shook,  while  o'er  the  muttering  deep 
The  dismal  Waters  coil'd — as  if  they  feared  ! 
And  last,  the  graves  unlock'd  themselves,  and  shades 
Stalk'd  out,  and  glided  through  the  quaking  town, 
And  floated  by  the  living,  like  faint  gleams 
Of  fairy  moonlight  o'er  a  pallid  wall ! 

Hell  heard,  and  shudder'd  as  it  heard  the  wail 
And  dying  words  of  Christ ! — While  Satan  howl'd, 
And  gnash'd  his  teeth  amid  the  furnace  glow 
Of  everlasting  fires,  to  know  his  wrath 


THE     CRUCIFIXION.  1 79 

Should  ne'er  be  glutted  on  the  world ! — that  Heaven 

Was  won,  and  to  rebellious  man  unbarr'd ! 

Unbarr'd  ! — oh !  if  Imagination  may 

Plume  her  young  wing,  and  wander,  faith-borne,  THERE, 

A  peal  more  joyous  than  the  choral  stars, 

Upon  the  birth-day  of  created  worlds, 
Re-echoed  round  her  chrystal  domes ;  while  all 
The  countless  seraphs  wreath'd  their  dazzling  wings 
In  awe,  before  the  lightning-shrouded  throne 
Of  The  Invisible  !  then  woke  their  harps 
To  melodies  divine,  and  hail'd  the  LAMB 
Triumphant  from  his  Martyrdom  below ! 

Great  LORD  of  Love  and  Light !  that  now  art  thron'd 
Amid  the  unimagin'd  halls  above, 
Oh,  speed  !  oh,  speed !  the  universal  day 
Of  Peace  and  Truth  ;  roll  on  the  flood  of  time, 
And  waft  Thy  message  to  the  farthest  isle 


1 80  THE     CRUCIFIXION. 

Beneath  Thy  Sun!— Speak  Thou^!  and  light  will  flash 

Upon  the  prison' d  Soul,  as  erst  it  did 

From  its  primeval  fount,  on  Nature's  gloom  ! 

O !  then,  no  more  will  martyr-widows  drop 

Their  flaming  limbs  upon  the  funeral  pile ; 

Nor  foaming  victims  with  delirious  yells 

Be  crush'd  by  cars,  or  ripp'd  with  steel ! — But  Truth, 

In  her  celestial  beauty,  shall  appeal, 

And  banish  dreadful  Superstition's  deeds  ; 

Till  every  heart  and  eye,  and  voice  and  hand, 

Shall  worship  Thee  ;  and  every  land  and  isle 

Become  thy  flock,  and  every  Soul  be  saved ! 

Two  thousand  years  have  swiftly  travell'd  down 
The  gulph  of  time,  since  on  the  glorious  Cross, 
Divinest  Martyr,  Thou  wert  nail'd ! — The  world, 
With  all  its  pageantry  and  pride,  prevails  ; 
Men  smile  and  struggle,-  labour,  sin,  and  die, 


THE     CRUCIFIXION.  181 

As  if  thy  blood  had  never  blotted  out 

The  crimes  of  earth  ;  as  if  at  last,  Thy  might 

And  majesty  should  not  appear.     Still,  Thon 

Hast  said !  and  Thou  wilt  visit  earth  again ! 

But  not  the  homeless  orphan  of  the  world, 

To  wander  on  in  pain  and  woe,  and  weep, 

And  perish  on  the  tree  ; — but  on  Thy  car 

Of  lightning,  rolling  from  th'  unfathom'd  depths 

Of  Heaven  ! — while  Spirits,  robed  in  radiant  light, 

Brandish  their  glittering  banners  o'er  Thy  throne 

And  all  the  clouds,  like  burning  billows,  flash, 

And  bound  beneath  Thy  feet! — The  trump  shall  peal 

That  dead-awakening  blast,  more  full  and  deep 

Than  thunder  in  its  maddest  roar ! — The  Sea 

Shall  yawn,  and  all  her  buried  hosts  arise, 

The  graves  burst  open,  and  the  dust  unite 

Into  a  living  form  ! — and  then  shall  come 

THE  JUDGMENT,  AND  THE  EVERLASTING  DOOM!' 
Q 


LONDON  BY  MIDNIGHT. 

THE  fret  and  fever  of  the  day  are  o'er, 
And  London  slumbers,  but  with  murmurs  faint, 
Like  Ocean,  when  she  folds  her  waves  to  sleep : 
'Tis  the  pure  hour  for  poetry  and  thought ; , 
When  passions  sink,  and  man  surveys  the  heavens, 
And  feels  himself  immortal. 

O'er  all  a  sad  sublimity  is  spread, — 
The  dimming  smile  of  night ;  amid  the  air, 
Darkly  and  drear,  the  spiry  steeples  rise, 
Like  shadows  of  the  past ;  the  houses  lie 
In  dismal  clusters,  moveless  as  in  sleep : 
And,  towering  far  above  the  rest,  yon  dome* 

*  St.  Paul's. 


LONDON   BY   MIDNIGHT.  183 

Uprears,  as  if  self-balanced  in  the  gloom ; 
A  spectre  cowering  o'er  the  dusky  piles. 

And,  see !  I  stand  on  ground,  whose  glorious  name 
Might  turn  a  coward  brave  ;  on  thy  huge  bridge, 
Triumphant  Waterloo.     Above,  how  calm ! 
There  moon  and  star  commingling  radiance  shed, 
Steeping  the  skies  in  beauty.     Smooth  and  pale 
The  pearly-bosom'd  clouds  recline,  enlink'd, 
Like  wave-festoons  upon  the  glossy  deep. 
Below,  the  Thames  outspread ;  serene  and  dim ! 
And,  as  I  gaze,  a  cooling  breath  ascends, 
And  melts  upon  my  brt>w :  like  the  worn  heart 
When  stormy  cares  have  slept,  the  river  seems, 
Peaceful  and  still,  save  when  a  wind-sigh  stirs 
The  waveless  slumber  of  its  breast ;  like  dreams, 
That  quiver  on  the  marble  face  of  sleep. 


184  LONDON    B¥    MIDNIGHT. 

Along  each  side  the  darkling  mansions  frown 
Funereal  in  their  gloom.     Afar,  and  faint, 
The  bridge-lamps  glimmer  o'er  the  tranquil  stream, 
As  if  enchain' d  upon  the  air  :  beneath 
Are  thrown  out  quiv'ring  columns  of  red  light; 
And,  here  and  there,  a  tower  and  shadowy  spire 
Are  imaged  on  the  water ;  sad  and  shrunk, 
Like  flower-leaves  wither'd  by  the  summer  blaze. 

Yonder,  in  dim  magnificence,  behold 
The  many-window'd  pile  ;*  apart  and  proud, 
In  gloomy  grandeur,  like  a  lofty  mind, 
Unmingling  with  the  baser  crowd.     One  half 
Is  clothed  with  moonlight's  pallid  veil, 
Beneath  a  darkness  dwells,  whence  portals  yawn 
In  cavern-gloom  upon  the  drowsy  tide, 
Like  tombs  unbarr'd. 

*  Somerset-House. 


LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT.  185 

But,  hark !  from  yonder  dome 
The  Day  is  tolPd  into  Eternity  ! 
How  hollow,  dread,  and  dismal  is  the  peal, 
Now  rolling  up  its  vast  account  to  Heaven ! 
Awhile  it  undulates,  then  dies  away 
In  muttered  echoes,  like  the  ebbing  groans 
Of  drowning  men :  and  see  !  the  toiling  moon 
Is  in  a  fane  of  clouds,  and  I  am  lone, 
Unseen,  but  by  the  sleepless  One !  Oh,  God  ! 
I  FEEL  Thine  eye  upon  me,  and  I  shrink 
Awe-smote  beneath  its  gaze,  like  melting  snow 
Beneath  Thy  sun ! 

How  noiseless  are  the  streets ;  a  few  hours  gone, 
And  all  was  fierce  commotion  ;  car  arid  hoof, 
And  bick'ring  wheel,  and  crackling  stone,  and  throats 
That  rang  with  revelry,  and  woe — were  here 

Immingled  in  the  stir  of  life ;  but  now, 
Q  2 


186  LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT. 

A  deadness  mantles  round  the  midnight  scene. 
Time,  with  his  awful  feet,  has  paced  the  world, 
And  frown'd  her  myriads  into  sleep ! — 'Tis  hush'd ! 
Save,  when  a  distant  drowsy  watch-call  breaks 
Intrusive  on  the  calm ;  or  rapid  cars, 
That  roll  them  into  silence.     Beauteous  look 
The  train  of  houses,  yellow'd  by  the  moon, 
Whose  tile-roofs  slanting  down  amid  the  light, 
Gleam  like  an  azure  track  of  waveless  sea ! 

But  who  was  she,  that  with  a  fairy  step 
And  dropping  lip  of  smiles,  came  floating  by 
Like  April's  merry  breeze  ?     Alas!  Alas! 
Let  nights  of  laughing  agony,  and  crimes 
That  burn  in  tortures  on  the  tainted  heart, 
Let  sated  passion,  and  the  fever'd  frame — 
Let  these  betray  the  orphan  of  the  night ! 
As  on  her  guilt-worn  face,  the  lamp-beam  fell, 


LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT.  187 

Reluctantly,  methought  her  eye  reveal'd 
The  curse  of  mis'ry — gladness  in  disguise. 

The  squares — how  haughtily  reposed  they  stand 
At  this  deep  hour,  with  massy  sides  erect 
Of  stately  piles  ;  where  windows  broad  and  bright 
Like  molten  mirrors  shine  ;  and  freckled  walls 
Are  steep'd  in  light  that  ripples  on  the  stone : 
Beneath,  amid  the  laurel  leaves  that  shake 
Upon  the  drooping  boughs,  the  lamp-rays  flit 
In  twinkling  playfulness,  like  infant  eyes. 

Once  more  upon  the  climbing  moon,  ere  yet, 
Cloud-shaded,  she  withdraw, — a  moment  glance  ; 
There  as  we  gaze,  what  undefined  awe, 
What  thoughts  ethereal  flutter  round  the  heart ! 
On  her  fair  brow  we  seem  to  write  and  read 
The  mind's  quick  fancies :  all  the  Past  awakes, 


188  LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT. 

Begirt  with  sweet  creations,  till  the  fount 
Of  Sympathy  unlocks;  and  then,  a  tear 
Will  steal  in  brightly  on  the  manliest  eye  ; 
A  precious  tear,  pure  welling  from  the  soul. 

The  Past ! — Oh !  who  on  London  stones  can  tread, 
Nor  shadow  forth  the  spirits  that  have  been  ? 
An  atmosphere  of  genius  genders  here 
Remembrance  of  the  past !     The  storied  nurse, 
The  ancient  mother  of  the  mighty,  Thou, 
UnrivalPd  London  !     Sages,  poets,  kings, 
And  all  the  giant  race  of  glorious  fame, 
Whose  world-illuming  minds,  like  quenchless  stars, 
Burn  through  the  wreck  of  ages, — triumph'd  here, 
Or  ravish'd  hence  a  beam  of  Fame  !     And  now 
Imagination  cites  these  mighty  dead 
In  dismal  majesty  from  out  the  tomb! 


LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT.  189 

And  who  shall  paint  the  midnight  scenes  of  life 
In  this  vast  city  ? — mart  of  human  kind ! 
Some  weary  wrecks  of  woe  are  lapp'd  in  sleep, 
And  bless'd  in  dreams,  whose  day-life  was  a  curse  ! 
Some,  heart-rack' d  roll  upon  a  sleepless  couch, 
And  from  the  heated  brain  create  a  hell 
Of  agonizing  thoughts,  and  ghostly  fears, 
While  Pleasure's  moths,  around  the  golden  glare 
Of  princely  halls,  dance  off  the  dull-wing'd  hours  : 
And  oh  !  perchance,  in  some  infectious  cell, 
Far  from  his  home,  unaided  and  alone, 
The  famish' d  wand'rer  dies  : — no  voice  to  sound 
Sweet  comfort  to  his  heart — no  hand  to  smooth 
His  bed  of  death, — no  beaming  eye  to  bless 
The  spirit  hov'ring  o'er  another  world  ! 

But  list !  the  laugh  of  Pleasure  loads  the  wind  ; 
}Tis  Folly's  soulless  idols,  saunt'ring  home, 


190  LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT. 

Faced  with  a  mask  of  smiles.     And  one  there  is. 

Upon  whose  haggard  cheek  a  glance  may  read 

A  tale  of  blighted  years  and  buried  woes  : 

His  dome  is  reached  ;  and  where  the  window  gleams 

Dart  o'er  the  street  a  dizzy  chain  of  light, 

Awhile  he  gazes  on  his  mirror'd  face, 

And  sighs  to  see  what  havoc  Pleasure  makes  ! 

Then  drops  upon  his  couch,  while  round  him  float 

In  visionary  throngs,  the  glowing  forms 

That  beautified  the  night : — and  where  are  they  ? 

At  home  ;  heart-wearied,  gloomy  as  their  dreams, 

And  glad  that  Time  has  clutch'd  another  day. 

Turn  to  a  nobler  victim  of  the  night ; 
Where  yonder  casement  sheds  a  dismal  gloom 
Upon  the  breezeless  air,  aloft  and  lone, 
The  unregarded  wreck  of  Genius  toils, 
With  burning  brain,  and  dewy  brow  :  The  Day 


LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT.  191 

Hath  gone  to  rest,  but  Slumber  visits  not 
His  sunken  eyes.     The  gnawing  fires  of  thought 
Have  fed  upon  his  youthful  cheek,  and  parch'd 
His  tongue,  and  drawn  the  life-stream  from  his  lip,- 
The  lightnings  of  the  soul  have  sear'd  his  frame! 
But  Fame  stands  beckoning,  and  he  battles  on 
Through  want  and  woe,  until  he  win  the  goal ; 
A  welcome  one,  though  Death  should  drag  him  there. 

And  shall  this  city-queen — this  peerless  mass 
Of  pillar'd  domes,  and  grey-worn  towers  sublime, 
Be  blotted  from  the  world,  and  forests  wave 
Where  once  the  second  Rome  was  seen  ?  Oh  say, 
Will  rank  grass  grow  on  England's  royal  streets, 
And  wild  beasts  howl,  where  Commerce  stalk' d 

supreme  ? 

Alas !  let  Mem'ry  dart  her  eagle-glance 
Down  vanish'd  time,  till  summoned  Ages  rise 


192  LONDON    BY    MIDNIGHT. 

With  ruin'd  empires  on  their  wings !     Thought  weeps 

With  patriot  truth,  to  own  a  funeral  day, 

Heart  of  the  universe  !  shall  visit  thee, 

When  round  thy  wreck  some  lonely  man  shall  roam, 

And,  sighing,  say — "  'Twas  here  vast  London  stood  !" 

But,  hark!  again  the  heavy  bell  has  peal'd 
It  doleful  thunder  through  the  skies  :  the  stars 
Grow  pale,  the  moon  seems  weary  of  her  course  ; 
And  Morn  begins  to  blossom  in  the  east : 
Then,  let  me  home  !  and  Heaven  protect  my  thoughts  | 


THE  END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBP 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  bori 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  sta 


APR  1 


IVEu 
1996 

CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


RECEI 

DtL  , 


LD  21-95m-ll,'50(2877sl6)476 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


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